Anser anser

Very difficult to type that scientific name without putting Ws in! Anyway, this is one of the resident Greylag geese at Petersfield Heath, where we went for some fresh air this afternoon.  Greylags are the ancestor of most domestic geese and are the largest and bulkiest geese native to the UK and Europe.  There are 46,000 breeding pairs in the UK, with a further 140,000 breeding birds that overwinter here, 88,000 from Iceland.

We managed to miss the sunshine that put in an appearance earlier today as there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing and documentation to be sorted out for our impending house move due to a slight chance that we might exchange contracts before Christmas...we'll see.