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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 waterways: 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 a re-established species throughout the UK. Re-established Greylags 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 with no sign yet of levelling off. Annual breeding-season monitoring in a wider range of habitats through BBS has shown similar strong increases. Winter counts of re-established birds have increased rapidly since the late 1960s and reached a new peak in 2008/09 (Calbrade et al. 2010).
 
WBS UK graph

1993-2008: 410% (confidence interval 134% to 981%)

 
Population changes in detail
 
Demographic trends
 
Additional information
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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Leech, D.I., Renwick, A.R., Joys, A.C., Noble, D.G., Barimore, C., Conway, G.J., Downie, I.S., Risely, K. & Robinson, R.A. (2010). Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2010. BTO Research Report No. 565. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Iain Downie, Mandy T Andrews and Laura Smith: Last updated 03.09.2010