This is the tale of a wild goose chase although the chase isn’t that wild as it is mostly carried out on an old red bicycle (I liked hearing about the bicycle) and not all of the geese are completely wild either. The author cycles around north Norfolk during the winter and describes his encounters with geese. Now, geese are a mixed bunch really and the best geese in this area are, for me, the masses of Pinkfeet (Pink-footed Geese) and Brent Geese. Nick Acheson enthuses over these geese and describes what they do and where they go.
The sight of thousands of geese feeding on agricultural land would not necessarily be greeted with enthusiasm by farmers in many parts of the UK, or indeed across the world, but it has been commonplace for Pinkfeet in sugar beet fields in north Norfolk for decades. How so? The explanation is in these pages as is the prospect that things are changing because of improvements in harvesting efficiency.
Personally, I can’t get so worked up about some of the other geese wandering around in this area – the Egyptian Geese, Canada Geese and even all those Greylag Geese, and the more than just occasional Barnacle Geese these days. But for lovers of geese this is a book for them.
It’s not just about cycling around North Norfolk as the author brings in characters from the past and interviews some characters from the present too. There is a mix of history, landscape, biology, conservation along with the geese and the cycling. Through geese, we hear about farming practices and farmers, climate change and quite a lot about fellow wildlife enthusiasts of various types. I enjoyed it and I think so will many of the readers of this blog.
The cover? Clean and goosy. I’ll give it 8/10.
The Meaning of Geese: a thousand miles in search of home by Nick Acheson is published by Chelsea Green.
My forthcoming book, Reflections, will be published on 4 July and already can be ordered.
Details – click here.
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