Wider Countryside Report Header
BTO Blueline
Main WCR menu image Site navigation menu item Results overview menu item Other info menu item BTO website menu item
BTO Blueline
GREYLAG GOOSE
Anser anser
Greylag Goose © Mike Weston
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: not listed (introduced population);
amber (localised NW Scottish population);
amber (in winter, localised and >20% of NW European Flyway population)
Long-term trend
UK: rapid increase
UK population size
3,200 indigenous pairs in 1997, and 30,900 introduced adults in 1999 (Mitchell et al. 2000, Rehfisch et al. 2002, APEP06); 15,600–15,800 pairs in 2000 (BiE04)
Status summary
Apart from a small indigenous population in northwest Scotland and the Western Isles, and winter visitors mainly from Iceland, the Greylag Goose is an introduced species throughout the UK. Introduced Greylags have increased very rapidly, at a rate estimated at 12% per annum in southern Britain between the 1988–91 Atlas period and 1999 (Rehfisch et al. 2002). This equates across Britain to 170%, or 9.4% per annum, in the period to 2000 (Austin et al. 2007). The WBS sample became large enough for annual monitoring in 1992, since when further steep increase has been recorded along linear waterways. Annual breeding-season monitoring in a wider range of habitats through BBS has shown similar strong increases. Winter counts confirm that the introduced population is likely to be already much larger than the latest agreed population size estimates from 1999 and 2000 (Austin et al. 2008).
 

Population changes
WBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Greylag Goose

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
WBS waterways 13 1993-2006 10 507 106 1427   Small sample
  10 1996-2006 12 245 35 679   Small sample
  5 2001-2006 11 113 0 221   Small sample
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 127 120 21 281    
  10 1996-2006 133 116 33 235    
  5 2001-2006 173 58 23 89    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 103 126 64 257    
  10 1996-2006 109 116 56 215    
  5 2001-2006 142 39 16 66    

BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
 

Productivity trends
Productivity information is not currently available for this species
 

Additional information
BTO blue divider
 

BTO Home | JNCC Home
 © British Trust for Ornithology. Charity No 216652 (England and Wales).Charity No SC039193 (Scotland)
Company Limited by Guarantee No 357284 (England and Wales).
Registered Office: The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK.
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement          Email:


This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Leech, D.I., Joys, A.C., Noble, D.G.,
Barimore, C., Grantham, M.J., Risely, K. & Robinson, R.A. (2009).
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2008.
BTO Research Report No. 516. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Iain Downie, Mandy T Andrews and Laura Smith: Last updated 18.02.2009