Goslings Swimming in Alternative V Formation

Published on: 23 May, 2013
Updated on: 23 May, 2013

Here’s some young Canada goslings trying to travel in a V formation. But instead of doing it in the air, they are on water, and in a kind of reverse way!

A Canada geese leads her goslings across Broadwater Lake at Farncombe.

This lovely image was taken by Mike Ellis of Gingercat Photography at Broadwater Lake at Farncombe this week. He has also supplied the other two pictures seen here.

Canada geese are a common sight on ponds and lakes in these parts, but they are not a native bird. The species originates from North America. Like other species of geese as well as other birds, when migrating they fly in a V formation, sometimes called a skein.

All the family together.

It’s reckoned that Canada geese were first introduced to Britain in 1665 as an addition to the waterfowl collection of King Charles II at St James’s Park in London. Their numbers remained low until the 1950s when they started to increase significantly. A bird census in 1991 census recorded 63,581 Canada geese in the UK.