Goose Fever

For farmers, the sound of an approaching skein of Canada geese spells trouble, but for Owen Beardsmore it signals the start of one of his favourite periods in the shooting calendar

- Owen Beardsmore

'Honk, honk, honk!’ The sound of ‘goose music’ is returning to the fields of the Midlands as skeins of young Canada geese, now strong flyers, are taken out by their elders to forage the late-summer stubble fields. The Trent Valley is blessed with dozens of man-made lakes that remain after 30 years of gravel extraction. Although unsightly while in operation, the reward is that the huge areas of water have now become nature reserves and leisure facilities. Most of these gravel workings were adjacent to the River Trent which serves as a natural flight line for many wildfowl, and in particular Canada geese, whose numbers throughout the area have steadily increased over the past years.

With an estimated population of 190,000 in the UK, we have our fair share of this species and some great sport can be had in the name of crop protection, supporting the local farmers who suffer extreme damage to their winter crops as a result of the geese.

Decoying the geese onto the stubble fields before they are ploughed or scarified can be an effective way of managing an early season cull. In the 1990s, licences were granted for ‘egg pricking and oiling’ to try to reduce the Canada goose numbers. This had some effect but for the past decade nothing has been done locally and goose numbers are expanding at a drastic rate, and the damage large numbers can do to agriculture, plus the health hazard the faeces cause in public areas such as parks and golf courses, has resulted in them now being given pest status.

Plan of attack

During the month of August we start our reconnaissance and study the flight patterns of the geese as they leave the lakes and head out, skein after skein, in search of food.