Barnacle Goose

Name: Barnacle Goose

Scientific name: Branta leucopsis

Category: Birds

Nature Stars: 70

What are nature stars?

About: Barncale Goose is one of our smaller geese, with a relatively small, rounded head and a very short bill. A common winter visitor to the north west of Britain in particular. They are our most 'black and white' geese, with no brown on them at all. Like all

How to identify: A small black-and-white goose, with more white on the face than Canada Goose.

Where: Wild birds only found here in the winter. Nests in Greenland and Svalbard and spends the winter in Scotland and Ireland. Small numbers of feral birds nest on gravel pits and park lakes.

Natural Superpowers

• Predator: 10
• Agility: 30
• Rarity: 70
• Cute factor: 30
• Traveller: 80

Fantastic fact: Barnacle Geese were once thought to hatch out of Goose Barnacles that washed up on the west coast of Scotland in the autumn.

Photograph credit: Dave Appleton