Barnacle Geese in Suffolk

18th November 2025

Well, this takes me back to the late 1990s when I went to Benacre Broad to see a rare grebe. As I was walking back south along the cliffs I spotted a large flock of geese flying up the coast which got closer and closer, and eventually got close enough for me to see they were in fact............Barnacle Geese. I was quite excited as I not unreasonably believed they were wild birds that had overshot the Solway Firth, and it was a while later I found out there was a feral flock of about 400 Barnacles based at Covehithe Broad.

And here I am today overlooking North Warren watching about 400 Barnacle Geese. 

There are believed to be 1000+ Barnacle Geese in Suffolk. The birds are part of a naturalised population, and although there have been records of breeding of feral Barnacle Geese in the county, the numbers remain low and in 2022 there were no records of breeding at all, and certainly not sufficient to sustain the current population. The numbers appear to be swelled during the winter months, but more likely to be from the feral population in the Netherlands than wild birds from the north. So enjoy.

Barnacles have always been my favourite geese with their very small size, white face and tiny neat bill.

And love it when they take to the air and call continuously as do other goose species.

Wow, that was a spectacle and what a fly-past.

And now time to say goodbye, to the Thorpeness house in the sky.