Barnacle Goose

An uncommon introduced resident which has bred occasionally since 1998. 

It is also a very scarce winter visitor and passage migrant and was considered a local rarity until 1998. 

The largest count is of 80 at OPS on 7th December, 2010. 

It is difficult to establish the origin of many with certainty, given the large feral flock in Gloucestershire, but wild birds have probably occurred, particularly some of the early records listed below, for example Palmer and Ballance (1968) state that the 1945, 1963 and 1964 records ‘seem to refer to wild birds’. The 1995, 1996 and 2016 ABRs mention additional records that might relate to wild birds 

1945 – seven at Ladye Bay on January 27th 

1959 – one possibly wild at BL on November 7th, CVL on 8th and BL again on 13th. A party of five at CVL from December 1st were initially considered to be wild. However, what was presumed to be the same birds were seen again, from early January until the third week of February 1960, and of four then watched closely, three were carrying Wildfowl Trust rings 

1963 – four with 200 Whitefronts at Sand Bay on January 12th

1964 – CVL from September 26th until October 20th 

1970 – Woodspring Bay on January 11th, eight at Clevedon from December 26th until 29th