Brent Goose

The Brent Goose is a small, dark goose about the same size as a Mallard. It has a black head and neck and grey-brown back with either a pale or dark belly depending on the race. Adults have a small white neck patch. It occurs in loose flocks along the coast, rather than in tight skeins like grey geese. It is an “Amber List” species because of the important numbers found at just a few sites.

Brent Geese breed in the Arctic tundra around shallow pools usually near to the sea. In the UK they are present between October and March and occur on estuaries and shallow coasts with mudflats and salt marshes.

The main concentrations of dark-bellied birds occur in the Wash in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, on the North Norfolk coastal marshes, on Essex estuaries, in the Thames Estuary and in Chichester and Langstone Harbours. Most light-bellied birds are found at Strangford Lough and Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland and at Lindisfarne, Northumberland.

Date: 05/03/06

Location: Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex