Local school children have been celebrating one of Lancashire’s most iconic seasonal visitors by designing their very own geese for a new family trail, the Big Goose Count, at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre as part of its new Goosefest celebrations.
Children aged between four and eleven from Burscough Bridge Methodist Primary School and St John’s Catholic Primary School have taken part in the initiative, creating colourful and imaginative goose designs inspired by the pink-footed geese that return to WWT Martin Mere each autumn and winter from Iceland.
The geese, which return in groups of thousands, can reach record numbers of 40,000 at one given time, creating a unique and unmissable spectacle as they settle on the water at the wetland centre.
The project aims to give local children a sense of pride in the place that they call home, whilst helping them connect with and celebrate the incredible wildlife on their doorstep.
As part of the Big Goose Count, families can explore Martin Mere and see how many of the colourful geese they can spot. Visitors can then enter a competition to guess how many there are in total, with the chance to win a £50 WWT gift shop voucher.
The schools involved in designing the geese have also been given a voucher to visit WWT Martin Mere and search for their own creations in the trail.
Six of the custom geese can also be found at Burscough Bridge train station, located nearby to the schools and the wetland centre.
The Big Goose Count trail is available to see from 5 September until 1 November as it extends into the October half term for more families to participate. It is included as part of admission tickets or WWT membership.
Victoria Fellowes, Acting General Manager, said:
“We’re delighted to see local children getting involved and designing their own geese for the trail. We want to encourage more people from our local community to connect with and celebrate this special time of year, when thousands of wild birds arrive at WWT Martin Mere and transform the reserve.
“We’d like to thank Burscough Bridge Methodist Primary School and St John’s Catholic Primary School for taking part and helping us bring the Big Goose Count to life. We hope families enjoy exploring the trail together, and we look forward to welcoming even more local schools to get involved in future.”
This forms part of the wider Goosefest celebrations, which includes a line-up of workshops, guided walks, special events and late night openings. Take a look at the Goosefest website to find out more.
