One of the very first birds to have young each year is the Egyptian goose. A reader, Michael Ingham, writes to say that a pair already had four goslings at the nature reserve at Earley, Reading, in the last days of January. Egyptian geese are extraordinary-looking birds, very fat and pink, which swim about as though they had been tipped up, with their tail higher than their shoulders. The ganders also have two black eyes. When they fly, they show large white wing-patches. There are about 1,000 of them in Britain, with their headquarters in Norfolk, but they are steadily spreading. They are very common all over Africa, and were introduced here in the late 18th century.
Their tendency to breed so early does not do them much good, because they often lose their eggs or their young to bad weather. However Mr Ingham says the same pair successfully reared six young last year.