I’m Steve, a birder living near the Leeds–Liverpool Canal. Most of my time outdoors is spent exploring Wigan, Leigh, and the surrounding flashes and wetlands. I’m not chasing big lists — just enjoying my local patch, taking photos, and getting outside for my wellbeing. This blog is where I record sightings, share the places I love, and enjoy slow, local birding with family or on my own.
HABITAT OBSERVATIONS: Wetland surrounded by extensive reedbeds, scrubland and mature woodland.
Word on the birding grapevine is that maybe a pair of Egyptian Geese have touched down on the Flash, another opportunity to build on and get outside. Although they’re not considered a rarity these days, they’re always a welcome sight — a species that has been appearing in small numbers at Pennington Flash for the past five or six years, with a few choosing to settle in and stay through the summer.
Their presence is hard to miss — not just visually, but vocally, females produce a loud, harsh, trumpeting quack or cackle, while males make a quieter, breathy hiss or whistle. Their loud, rolling call often carries across the water, a bold contrast to the softer sounds of the landscape. For many people, that sudden burst of noise becomes part of the moment: a reminder to pause, look up, and reconnect with the living world around us.
In their own way, they invite us to slow down, breathe, and appreciate the wild energy woven into even the most familiar places.
They didn’t arrive in the UK naturally; they were introduced around 400 years ago in the 17th century as ornamental birds. Today they’re well established across Southern and Central England, especially in East Anglia and London, it is included on the BTO British Bird List (Category C1) an introduced species considered naturalised. They are slowly moving northwards, in winter they can be seen as far north as Shetland however usually in smaller numbers.
Even so, they’ve become a familiar and much‑loved presence in many parks and lakes. Their population has grown steadily, with an estimated 1,850 breeding pairs and winter numbers rising to around 5,600 birds. The Egyptian Goose is not a true waterfowl bird like a Canada Goose it is a type of Shelduck. Canada Geese are significantly larger less colourful, Egyptian Geese smaller, more colourful and a distinctive brown eye patch.
Egyptian Goose
Egyptian Goose
Egyptian Goose
Egyptian Geese, the one nearest the water was the male as it made the quieter hissing sound
From the Horrocks Hide - Blackheaded Gull, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Graylag Geese, Canada Geese, Pied Wagtail, Wood Pigeon From the Pengy Hide - Gadwall, Black-headed Gull
From the Tom Edmondson Hide - Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan and Cuckoo - heard but not seen.
On the Flash - Canada Geese, Coot, Greylag Geese, Egyptian Geese, Mallard, Swift
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