Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca
Summer abundance change
Occasional wanderer from southeast England, where introduced from Africa
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Egyptian Goose maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the relative abundance of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Key
Relative to average
Nos tetrads
More abundant
0
0%
Equally abundant
0
0%
Less abundant
0
0%
Not surveyed in both periods
Egyptian Geese once bred in the Middle East and southeast Europe but nowadays occur naturally only in Africa. Present in British wildfowl collections from the 1600s, by the 19th century free-flying breeding populations had been established from escaped birds in several southern English counties and in East Lothian in Scotland. At the end of the 20th century they were recorded in ten counties, with confirmed breeding in six. The two main population centres are Norfolk and Greater London, with outward dispersal to surrounding counties.First recorded in Wiltshire in the mid-19th century, but thereafter few records until the 1980s when small numbers began appearing in most years. Birds of Wiltshire reported them as present "almost annually [since 1988] mostly in the Salisbury and Swindon areas" but quoted no specific records. Between one and four records per year were reported in Hobby between 1995 and 2000, almost all outside the periods when timed counts were being conducted for Birds of Wiltshire. Since 2000 Hobby has recorded small numbers every year at four or five sites around the county, with as many as nine at a time at the Cotswold Water Park, where the species bred for the first time in the county in 2012. Bird Atlas 2007- 2011 recorded the species in two tetrads in the winter and two different tetrads in the breeding season, though with no indication of breeding.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.