{"id":21088,"date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=21088"},"modified":"2022-10-21T12:03:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T10:03:55","slug":"mike-dilgers-wildlife-spectacles-come-fly-with-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2022\/10\/20\/mike-dilgers-wildlife-spectacles-come-fly-with-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Dilger\u2019s wildlife spectacles: Come fly with me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>
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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mike Dilger\u2019s<\/strong> wildlife spectacles<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The broadcaster, naturalist and tour guide shares the most breathtaking seasonal events in Britain<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Come fly with me<\/h2>\n\n
WHIFFLING GEESE<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Catch the strange side-slipping flight of overwintering geese as they plummet towards the ground<\/p>\n\n

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Prepare for landing: greylag geese whiffle in order to stay safe <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

IN LOOKS ALONE OUR OVERWINTERING geese are unable to compare with the elegance of say a mute swan, the brilliance of a kingfisher or the dashing nature of a peregrine. But certainly they more than make up for what could be best described as \u2018unremarkable looks\u2019 when they come together on their wintering grounds \u2013 with the whole definitely greater than the sum of its parts. <\/p>\n\n

Arriving from all points north anytime from mid-September onwards, the geese are attracted to Britain\u2019s comparatively mild winter climate, which is believed to be boosted by about 5\u02daC, thanks to the warming impact of the Gulf Stream. An undoubted natural joy, as autumn hands over the baton to winter, comes from watching the movements of large skeins of pink-footed, white-fronted and greylag geese etched across the sky, as they shuttle between their roosting grounds and feeding areas.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Often choosing to roost at night in the comparative safety offered by estuaries, these \u2018grey\u2019 geese will often move inland at first light to feed, which in the case of pinkfooted geese sees them moving to barley or sugar-beet fields, where the crop stubble or remaining beet-tops offer rich pickings. The geese tend to then return to their roosts before dusk descends \u2013 these are the best times to catch the astonishingly aerobatic spectacle of \u2018whiffling\u2019. <\/p>\n\n

A term relatively unknown outside of ornithological circles, whiffling describes the geese\u2019s technique for rapidly descending out of the sky with a zig-zagging and side-slipping motion which allows them to effectively \u2018spill\u2019 the air out of their wings.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe geese are even capable of briefly flying with their body, wings and feet upside down\u201d <\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

When whiffling, the geese are even capable of briefly flying with their body, wings and feet upside down, but bizarrely with their head and neck twisted 180\u00b0 around to the normal position. By briefly inverting, this temporarily reverses the aerodynamics normally associated with lift and causes the geese instead to plummet towards the ground like a stone. But often, just as quickly as they have inverted, the geese will then right themselves into their normal flying orientation, which operates like a brake as they restore gliding at a lower level. <\/p>\n\n

This whiffling motion can almost resemble that of a falling leaf, and is believed to be used to avoid being attacked by avian predators at a potentially vulnerable moment. Additionally, in areas where geese are shot at by hunters, it\u2019s thought that the whiffling may prevent a long, slow descent along a more predictable flight line (like when a plane comes in to land), thereby making them a moving target and difficult to take aim at. Finally, the whiffling might also help to control their descent in particularly windy conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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The Scottish island of Islay supports over 50 per cent of the UK\u2019s visiting barnacle geese <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The whiffling tends to be most commonly observed when the geese are no more than 20 or 30m above the ground, and the collective sight of geese apparently tumbling out of the sky can appear almost as uncontrolled as it is awe-inspiring. <\/p>\n\n

However, having the head maintained in the usual horizontal plane presumably helps them maintain control. Researchers looked at how the geese manage to stabilise their heads during these descents and discovered that they keep them level with the help of a large number of vertebrae and complex musculature in their necks. These function in a similar manner to the spring-massdamper system in a car\u2019s suspension. <\/p>\n\n

Geese are nervous by nature and prefer open areas offering good all-round visibility, which allows them to spot any potential predators, so approaching them requires an element of caution. This means your best chance of observing whiffling geese is either from a distance (with the help of a telescope) or by using any available cover. Cars, for example, are very effective as mobile hides, or if you are on foot, then try breaking up your outline at the base of a hedge or wall. A wild goose chase is in no one\u2019s interest! <\/p>\n\n

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Did you know? <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Siberian white-fronted geese have pink bills, while those from Greenland have orange bills. Neither breed here. <\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
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LOOK CLOSER <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Growth of greylags <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Organised introductions of greylag geese in the 1930s and 1960s have reestablished breeding populations across Britain. Native wild populations, which have become integrated with a growing naturalised population, can be found in northern Scotland and the Western Isles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hungry birds <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Where geese turn up in huge numbers they can cause huge losses to farmers and crofters. Since 2000, the Scottish government\u2019s adviser on wildlife issues, NatureScot, has enacted a national goose policy to help balance agricultural and conservation interests. This has included payments to affected landowners and advice on how to control numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spotting the young ones <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Juveniles that hatched earlier in the year can be picked out from adults by subtle differences in plumage. For pink-footed geese, more than 17 per cent in the flock indicates a productive breeding season. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Photos: GREYLAG: FLPA\/ALAMY; WHITE-FRONTED: DAVID WHITAKER\/ALAMY; BARNACLE: SCOTLAND: THE BIG PICTURE\/NPL; PINK-FOOTED: JOE BLOSSOM\/ALAMY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catch the strange side-slipping flight of overwintering geese as they plummet towards the ground <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":21519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"30","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"30","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_30-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_30-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_external_id":"November-2022-30-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"November-2022-30-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087237||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087237||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-10-20T09:00:05Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"9864d38d-8ed1-4d7b-b9ac-3a2af1e2c845","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-10-21T10:04:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AmGTTjY7RTXu5rDoq8eLIRQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\""},"categories":[26],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-scaled.jpg",2560,2374,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-300x278.jpg",300,278,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-768x712.jpg",768,712,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-1024x950.jpg",800,742,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-1536x1425.jpg",1536,1425,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/EW3G8J_cmyk-2048x1900.jpg",2048,1900,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Catch the strange side-slipping flight of overwintering geese as they plummet towards the ground","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21088"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22283,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21088\/revisions\/22283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}