The Brent (or Brant) Goose (Branta bernicla) is a small, dark goose - of similar size to a Mallard. It has a black head and neck and grey-brown back, with either a pale or dark belly, depending on the sub-species. Brent Geese with dark bellies can be found around Eastern England, while those with pale bellies can be found in the North East England.
The geese in these picture are the dark bellied subspecies, meaning they come from the Russian Dark-bellied population.
This species is a winter visitor to the UK, and is essentially absent at all other times. During the writing of this post I discovered that the loose flock formation of birds shown in the first picture is characteristic of this species - it does not fly in the tight-knit formations of other geese species.
As ever, to join in with WBW, click on the link below. SM
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteThey are rather lovely... I am not sure I've seen one. Must pay more attention! YAM xx
Those are beautiful birds. Thank you Stewart. Aloha
ReplyDeleteI just have to say, off topic, your echidna shots are fabulous. I'm supremely jealous you got to see one like that. I LOVE echidnas!!!
ReplyDeleteLarge number of birds on water is quite a sight
ReplyDeleteI’ve only ever seen photos of these birds. It must be exciting to see such a huge flock.
ReplyDeleteGreat Photographs of the Brent. Reminds me of NI when over 30,000 come back there for the winter. they are Pale -bellied Brent from Artic Canada. Thanks for hosting and commenting. Have a great week ahead
ReplyDeleteA field full of geese only brings two things to mind which I won't mention ..great pictures though Stewart....
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of the geese! Thank you for hosting.
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