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Brent goose in Staines, West London.


Penelope
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Going through duty free the other day there was a promotion for "Grey Goose" gin or vodka or something. They had a big tv screen as a backdrop to the stand showing flight after flight of Canada geese. I was going to point out their obvious error, but thought I wouldn't waste my breath. :lol:

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The strangest thing is what is a Brent goose doing in Staines??

 

Escapee from a collection possibly?

 

Ive just looked up staines reservoir on Google maps and why on earth would a brent be there I unstand why the likes of canadas are there but why brent surely that is welll out of there comfort zone,

 

Penelope as you say escapee from a collection or is there any RSPB or WWT centre near by?

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The W&WT's Barn Elmes reserve/wetlands centre in Barns, SW London (old reworked Barn Elmes reservoir) is the closest, but I don't know if they have a collection of captive birds there and suspect they will be pinioned if they have.

If it has come from a collection I would suspect it will be a private ones, although from what I understand Brent aren't the easiest to keep.

Ive just looked up staines reservoir on Google maps and why on earth would a brent be there I unstand why the likes of canadas are there but why brent surely that is welll out of there comfort zone,

Penelope as you say escapee from a collection or is there any RSPB or WWT centre near by?

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The W&WT's Barn Elmes reserve/wetlands centre in Barns, SW London (old reworked Barn Elmes reservoir) is the closest, but I don't know if they have a collection of captive birds there and suspect they will be pinioned if they have.

If it has come from a collection I would suspect it will be a private ones, although from what I understand Brent aren't the easiest to keep.

No apparently not because my wildfowling club once tried breeding them for the club duck pond just as an ornamental thing and once they where able to fly they where gone and they didnt get on with the teal and mallard, I find they to be qiute a stubborn especially against smaller birds such as redshank and them and greylag fighting never seen anything like it

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I very much doupt if the brent was a captive bred bird that has escaped. They are very rare in captivity and very difficult to breed in captivity. They are a high Arctic breeding goose and need 24 hours of daylight to trigger the hormones the birds need to breed and we just do not get long enough daylight in the UK. Almost all if not all the brent you see in collections are injured birds taken into care or the American subspecies - Black Brant which though not easy , can be bred in collections. Brents are worth a lot of money (£ 400 a pair ) because of the problems breeding them so I doubt if anyone would risk having them free winged. Though I did manage to breed black brant , nether the dark or light bellied brents ever showed any sign of breeding.

 

While not common its not that unusal for brent to be recorded inland and at this time of year while the birds are on migration its easy for a young bird to become lost and join up with another goose flock , perhaps canadas. I have kept dark bellied, light bellied and black bant in captivity and found them to be the most peaceful of all geese along with red breasted geese. Having said that like all geese they will defend their mate and goslings against other birds , but I very much doubt that a brent would pick a fight with a canada unless its family was seriously threatened.

Edited by anser2
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Yes I am not surprised your mate got his RL Partridges to lay early by giving them more daylight. The length of daylight triggers hormones to do a number of things from breeding to migration and moult. The WWT feed their Bewicks swans under flood lights , but if they left the flood light on too long the increase in the length triggered the swans to migrate too early in the spring . Many moved into Gremany and found the weather still too cold and had to migrate back to England. However this only works for birds living in the northern or southern parts of the world. There is little variation in daylight length in the tropics so light has little effect on the birds. However other natural events will take over. Pink eared duck in Australia may not nest for several years when the weather is dry , but might breed 3 times in wet years. Rainfall triggers breeding . It makes setting seasons for duck shooting very difficult.

Edited by anser2
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