What have you seen

There were a group (flock?) of 7 Goosanders, 5 males and 2 females, yesterday, on one of the fishing lakes that we pass on our morning walk. Many more than I have seen together in a long while.

not sure about Goosanders, although I know Abbey Village was good for wild life, I have probably fished as a boy in the lake you mention. There used to be lots of Sparrow Hawks and Kestrels in the quarries behind the village, do miss the place, we are plagued by Canada Geese, sh** everywhere, but spring is in the air we now have Camelia and a single rose in bloom in the back garden and loads of bulbs shooting thru, just .hope the frost stays away

We have witnessed the same issue with Canada Geese deposits along the Ouse banks. This hybrid bird (Canada x greylag) has also been hanging around near us for a few days. 

You are lucky if you only have one, I live very close to Titchfield wild life haven and sometimes it would appear as though they have taken over the place, and you often see large flocks on the beach

when we lived in Tring we had the same problem down by the reservoirs, but every so often they would have something of a cull to keep th numbers down  

Didn’t realise they hybridise to that degree, Rufs! Though on a numbers ‘game’ -

Pure Canada geese in UK =150k according to the BTO.

Then we have 48 million pheasants released into the UK countryside annually.

Neither of these species are native birds to the UK. What’s more most of those in that incredible number of released pheasants will be shot at and killed in the name of sporting fun. Puts ‘things’ into some perspective!☹️

Today, on the River Weaver at Winsford, there were even more Goosanders, a mixed group of 11 cruising up and down.

That’s interesting Nellie, the first goosanders to breed in the UK did so in Scotland in 1871, individuals had been recorded in transit across the country for many years prior to this. The species is now considered by most to be a native species. 

That's interesting info, as there certainly seem to be lots about this winter, micky.

The suggestion is that they always have visited our shores and previously bred here but persecution and eradication had taken place over the centuries until no more was it breeding bird in the UK, only an occasional migrant passage bird, and one that was to be ‘hated’. Yes, it is fish eater, a fact that lead to its demise, but so is the kingfisher, the population size of both these species in the UK is pretty similar today but no one would wish to harm Kingfishers would they?

Much easier and more "fun" for some to shoot a surface swimming, relatively large, bird than go after the much harder to see and track Kingfisher!!