Christine emailed me saying …
Please can I suggest that you turn your lens and wise words on Abbey Meadows, specifically the play and picnic area around the lido, children’s fountain and small cafe kiosk. The area used to be a popular picnic area and was always full of families enjoying a meal or playing. For the last months it has been virtually deserted as the whole area is thickly crusted with goose poo ! I don’ t think, in all the years we have lived in Abingdon we have seen so many geese, of several varieties, and so many goslings as this year. The authorities have banned dogs and there are cattle grids to keep them out but the goose droppings and feathers especially all over the concrete of the fountains, are a bigger health hazard as well as being unsightly. A cull is needed at best or, if that is too contentious, then encouraging the geese to go elsewhere.
I went down there this evening when a group of Canada geese were just leaving and the area was thickly crusted with pooh, and even some pooh was around the interactive water feature.
There is a notice to say ‘do not feed the geese‘. However geese love eating short grass and the grass is kept very short here. One solution would be to allow the grass to grow long. Or replace it with artificial grass. Both ideas could have a down side.
Dogs love to chase geese but as Christine says they are not allowed in this area, and could not be expected to patrol overnight in any case.
Could the Vale of White Horse District Council do a cleanup then find some way of keeping geese away 24X7 until September .
Are there any goose epidemic experts who can help?
Yes I have noticed an increase in the number of geese and it really is spoiling what is a great recreation area. Something needs to be done.
It’s not just the Abbey Meadows, the bags Head island is covered in it . Once a peaceful place to sit with public benches to sit and relax, now full of grumpy Geese . Abingdon depends on river trade and it should be looked after.
I too have noticed (and therefore not used) the meadow for the same reason.
Interestingly, over the fence in the grounds of the pool there is no geese problem at all.
One assumes this is because Better hasn’t found a way to make money out of them?
Perhaps it really is as simple as letting the grass grow a little…however, I think The Veil should pay a consultant to come up with very expensive ways that don’t work first, before trying a simpler and cheaper approach.
And certainly not to be culled, what an awful, outdated suggestion, you should be ashamed.
I Suppose it is out of the question to suggest that if you want to live next to one of the most idyllic river stretches in the country then wildlife probably goes with the territory?
How about a low wire fence on the river bank, this would discourage the geese from mounting the bank and they would find somewhere else to feed ?
There are plenty of places where the geese could graze unmolested. A picnic area/ children’s play area should not be one of them. A few minutes on Google will show the number of nasty diseases that geese faeces spread. With school holidays beginning this weekend do we really want children exposed to them here ?
Perhaps the vets and avian experts who accompany the Swan Uppers could give some advice when they arrive on Friday ?
imagine that… wildlife trying to live alongside us humans who the planet surely belongs to, and to us alone.
I think that really the question was how it’s curious that every year the meadow isn’t covered in poo, but this year it is…
I don’t think anyone actually wanted to rid the planet of all but humans….although protesting against it may get the kids a day off school I guess….
There are plenty of places where geese can graze unmolested in Abingdon but the dedicated play and picnic area should not be one of them. A moment browsing on Google will show that goose faeces carry a number of potentially life- threatening and certainly unpleasant micro- organisms. Any child playing or picnicking on Abbey Meadows is at risk of infection. Adults are not immune either.
Perhaps we should ask advice of the avian experts who travel with the Swan Uppers when they arrive at Abingdon on Friday ?
I’m given to understand the sprinkler area is cleaned every morning and the man from the kiosk goes out and sweeps around the edge of the area during the day – have seen him do this.
Learn to live with it, it’s nature. Take a washable blanket to sit on, some baby wipes if needed and put the kids in plastic shoes for the sprinklers.
Cannot believe anyone would suggest a cull – ridiculous. And as for a fence – geese can fly you know!! We live by a river – embrace it.
Goose pie?
I wondered what those things on the side of their body where.
If you observe the geese they don’t fly in and out of river bank, they kinda waddle in the water and hop out. A low fence would just discourage them. They could watch us all play in the sprinklers from the other side of the bank then.
Although arming the kids with catapults and the goose pie option might also work.
Only yesterday I saw a low electric fence being used to keep Canada geese out of the picnic area in the grounds of a stately home. The geese were making no attempt to fly over the fence but were simply avoiding it and grazing elsewhere in the grounds.
The problem needs to be addressed soon the schools all break up for the summer next week and in its present state the whole area is a health hazard to all age groups.
That sounds worth a try – if any District Councillors or staff are following this perhaps they could suggest it?
Surely it would make sense to simply not cut the grass for a couple of weeks, see if that makes a difference?
I am happy to suggest it as an idea and as I’m not a fully qualified consultant I’m happy to only take half of the money for my idea that might not work, rather than take the full amount the professionals charge for ideas that don’t work.
Longer grass sounds a sensible starting point to encourage the offenders to move elsewhere, might even promote wild meadow plants. Bearing in mind that the whole Thames is a man-made environment (Locks, Weirs, dredging etc. to maintain the Navigation), invasive species (including messy Canada Geese) need to be managed both for recreational convenience and environmental reasons. Culling is not a dirty word to throw back at folk, just one end of a very wide spectrum of potential actions.
Children, Play area, Electric fence. No complaints there then. 50 years ago the response “It’s a Life Lesson – Which part of ‘touch’ and ‘don’t’ do you fail to understand?” would have been sufficient. Today – any guesses ???
Agreed. Nothing “natural” about non native invasive species like Canad geese ..Always a balance in these things.
The Canada geese definitely need culling. These are an introduced species that need to be eliminated completely.
I think a major cause of the problem is the number of people feeding the geese. It seemed to start when the first batch of geese with cute goslings appeared, If they weren’t fed ( usually totally unsuitable bread) they would be forced to revert to a natural diet. In all the time I’ve lived in Abingdon, this is the first year that I remember this being a problem.
Something has got to be done about the geese as most of the kids using the water feature are running around barefoot and must be stepping in goose poo ! The geese seem to have about 6 to 8 goslings and so numbers are increasing very fast . About 4 years ago there were only a handful of geese. There must be well over a 100 now ? The only time I have seen them frightened away was when a dog got into the play area. But maybe the solution is a some sort of fence or transporting them all to Radley Lakes and hope they stay there ?
Was there today, it’s disgusting and the Geese were menacing. Please somebody sort this out.
Today- Sunday11.30 am, warm and sunny- not a single family sitting on the grass and the water feature switched off. The whole area, concrete and all, was covered in geese and their droppings. We walk through there every Sunday and have never seen it so deserted in summer.
It’s the school holidays, a perfect time to come and play and picnic by the river. Who is responsible for ensuring the area is clean and well- maintained ? Have they visited recently ?
Just been for a bike ride through the park and guess what a temporary plastic fence has been put up to stop the geese from getting to the main play area and water fountains
See my mad fence idea wasn’t so mad.
Plastic fence not working- loads of geese by the fountains this morning. They come right up to you and I even saw one put his head into a pushchair. Poo everywhere. Will not come again with our grandchildren unless something is done!
And a women feeding them next to the swings and slides.
The plastic fence has a red gate in the middle so walkers and boaters can walk through to town. I repaired two gaps in the green plastic fence that people had made this morning however.
Still plenty of poo on the concrete water area which is so dangerous for children playing there.
Canada geese are an invasive species and can be culled and otherwise controlled under licence. One suggestion I have heard from a local councillor was to pave the area, obviously someone who worries more about a disease carrying pest than those people who voted him in!
Just been for an early morning cycle through park and there are geese all over the water fountain area. The temporary plastic fences are flattened in places where people have just trampled them down. Yesterday one of the mums was brushing all the goose poo off the water feature. Today is a very warm bank holiday and the park will be very busy with families wanting to use the water fountains. I would not let my grandchildren anywhere near it with all that poo getting on on their feet ?? They should have put a higher temporary metal fence up as used on building sites and better gates for access to the river for boat users. Let’s hope by next year there will be a permanent metal fence the same as around the play area ? Otherwise the problem will be even worse with the next 100 or so brood of goslings ?