The goose is well known for its fierce hissing, biting and striking with their wings, to frighten off predators from its young.

Geese are in the duck (anatidae) family, along with swans and ducks. They are ‘clean’ or edible, and Noah would have taken 7 pairs onto the Ark, hence the wide varieties within the family.

There are several species of wild geese in Britain, of which the Canada is the most common. After moulting one set of feathers and growing another, they will migrate for thousands of miles, flying in ‘V’ formation, quietly honking encouragement to the leadership, which changes often.

Most geese have been bred from the Greylag wild goose. The most important domestic geese in this country are the all-grey Toulouse, from France,and the all-white Embden, from Germany. Chinese Geese come from the Asian Swan-goose.

The eggs take about 30 days to hatch into goslings, which can swim within a day or two. They eat grain and grass.

The goose is well known for its fierce hissing , biting and striking with their wings, to frighten off predators from its young. This, and their alarm ‘honking’ also makes them good guards. But they are no match for a fox, who has killed geese here at the farm before.