Remember the first eggs laid back in mid March? We had a bit of a saga with that nest. It turned out that two-some was a three-some: two females and one male. A few days after the white goose laid her nine eggs, the little grey companion laid seven in the same nest. Unfortunately, I suspect they were first year layers as the nest is all but abandoned. They still visit occasionally, have a look, rearrange the eggs and cover them up a bit, but I don't think it has dawned at least one of them should be sitting on them. There is no chance they will hatch now, they have been left exposed too often and for too long. What does surprise me is that they have been untouched by predators.
Only yards away a single-mum goose has a nest which she sits tight on no matter who visits, including our next door neighbour threesome. Those three made lots of noise, she ignored them. She is obviously much more experienced and remained serene even when pursued by a amorous suitor. She ignored him with aplomb. Not so the juvenile swans who visited. She may have looked as if she was asleep but she kept one eye open and hissed at them when they got too close. 
On the other side of the first nest, is a moorhen's nest, well hidden on a bush on the edge of the weir. Not all is lovely dovy here though, it looks as if the female is being left with the majority of the work, something that is very unusual with moorhens. It doesn't stop her heckling him though.  |
| spot the nest |
All along this stretch of the canal there are about 10 goose nests and three more moorhen nests. I've already written some webpages on them that you can see on HubPages and there are more to come.
How Geese Nest in the Wild
Three Geese - One Nest this being The Other threesome nest on Greenhill under the hawthorn tree. I reckon the first goslings are due to hatch this coming week. Little Mama the white goose is very diligent in her care of the eggs.
WATCH THIS SPACE!
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