Cackler still present and correct at Lightshaw

The Richardson's cackling goose was still present at Lightshaw Flash this morning, although now it has joined up with the Canada goose flock. It's amazing to see it alongside it's giant cousins and apart from the size you can really see how dark it is, especially on the breast. We also had a good look at it through the telescope and it's clearly unringed. 

Whilst on the balance of probability it's still most likely an escaped bird, it was last seen on the Ribble estuary in January and it is unringed, so it's probably about as good as it's ever going to get for a genuine wild cackler in Greater Manchester. I suppose if it joined up with a pink-foot flock on Little Woolden Moss it would look a bit more convincing, but there were plenty of pink-footed geese on the Ribble when it was there, as well as quite a few Canada geese and even a couple of barnacles. Easy to imagine a wild cackler flying onto the Ribble estuary with pink-feet and then mixing with feral Canada's on the marsh. Some of the Canada's then fly off to Lightshaw Flash and the cackler decides to go with them. It's just as likely as any other scenario you can come up with. When was the last time you saw an unringed Richardson's cackling goose in captivity?

In further developments this evening, it now appears that this is the same cackler that was at Hatfield Moor in Yorkshire on 12th December last year. Now if only we could trace it back to Scotland....

Great to see these roe deer in the early morning light.