Pink-footed goose dawn flights

Pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus). Norfolk, Lancashire, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Best time: 1 Nov – 31 Jan and 1 Oct – 31 Oct (October to January). Where: RSPB Snettisham, The Wash, Holkham NNR, North Norfolk, RSPB Loch of Strathbeg, Aberdeenshire (United Kingdom). Time of day: Be under the flight line in full dark: geese lift from about 45 min before sunrise to 30 min after, in waves.

• You can go on your own
• Low cost
• Binoculars helpful
• Sound 5/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

• Peak 1: 1 Nov – 31 Jan — November to January: Norfolk and Lancashire roost flights
• Peak 2: 1 Oct – 31 Oct — October: Scottish arrival peak — Montrose Basin up to 80,000+ in autumn

Active from 20 Sep to 28 Feb (September to February) in a typical year.

Time of day

Be under the flight line in full dark: geese lift from about 45 min before sunrise to 30 min after, in waves; return flights from an hour before sunset until dusk.

• Dawn flight: 50 min before sunrise → 30 min after sunrise
• Return flight: 1 h before sunset → last light

What will you hear?

Tens of thousands of geese lifting off the mudflats at first light in a wall of 'wink-wink' calls, wave after wave overhead.

Binoculars?

Binoculars helpful. Geese pass overhead in the half-dark; binoculars for the flocks on the Wash later in the morning.

Where to go

• RSPB Snettisham, The Wash — Up to 100,000+ birds; the beach and pits are open all hours. Map
• Holkham NNR, North Norfolk — Roost on the marsh, dawn flights inland over the coast road — A149 audible. Map
• RSPB Loch of Strathbeg, Aberdeenshire — Huge autumn arrival numbers in October. Map
• WWT Martin Mere, Lancashire — Also whooper swans; floodlit evening feeds are busy with visitors. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Snettisham: park at the RSPB car park at the end of Beach Road (non-member charge) and walk the 2 km shore path to the pits — the path and beach are open at all hours. Holkham: Lady Anne's Drive car park is pay-and-display; the coast path from Wells and the A149 verges are free and open all night. Loch of Strathbeg: free RSPB reserve, park at the Starnafin visitor centre. Martin Mere: paid WWT centre with daytime hours.

Cost: Free; RSPB Snettisham car park £5 non-members (members free) and Holkham Lady Anne's Drive £3.80 (2 h) / £7.20 (4 h) / £14 all day (2026); WWT Martin Mere £17.10–£20.90 adult (2026).

Field-recording notes

Be in place in full darkness under the known flight line. Frosty, windless mornings give the cleanest sound. Wildfowling is legal on parts of the Wash and Norfolk foreshore (Sept–Jan) — expect shots below the sea wall at dawn outside the reserves.

Sources

• RSPB Snettisham
• WWT

Similar spectacles

• Wadden Sea autumn: geese, waders and whooper swans in the marshDenmark · Wintering waterfowl · peak 10 Oct–10 DecBarnacle goose yapping in flocks of tens of thousands over the Ballum marsh, brent geese growling on the flats, golden plover flocks whistling, whooper swan families bugling on the polders at night, curlew; the tide.
• Arctic geese on the Lower RhineGermany · Wintering waterfowl · peak 1 Dec–10 FebWhite-fronted geese's high yelping in skeins of thousands, bean geese's deeper 'kayak', the roar of a roost lifting off the Rhine at first light, whooper swans on the Bislicher Altrhein; barges and the A57 underneath.
• Lower Oder Valley: whooper swans, geese and the flooded poldersGermany · Wintering waterfowl · peak 10 Jan–20 FebWhooper swan bugling in chorus over the polder ice-edge, geese lifting at dawn by the thousand, smew and goldeneye wing-whistle, eagle yelps; in October, cranes; in May, corncrakes at night.
• Goose autumn at the Lange Lacke, SeewinkelAustria · Wintering waterfowl · peak 20 Oct–10 DecGeese in skeins of thousands crossing the pastures at dusk, greylag chatter on the soda lake roost through the night, cranes trumpeting overhead in late October, eagle calls; the salt-steppe silence in between.
• Doñana in winter: geese and the marismasSpain · Wintering waterfowl · peak 1 Dec–31 JanTens of thousands of greylags calling at first light, wigeon whistling in rafts, flamingos honking, glossy ibis colonies grunting, and the near-total absence of roads in the marsh core.
• Wintering greylags at VillafáfilaSpain · Wintering waterfowl · peak 20 Nov–31 JanWaves of greylags leaving the saline lagoons at first light in a continuous honking chorus, with great bustards grunting on the stubble and cranes overhead.

More: all spectacles in the United Kingdom · wild geese · winter geese, swans and ducks · the United Kingdom in January · the United Kingdom in October · the United Kingdom in November · the United Kingdom in December