FACTORALY - E91 GEESE

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Geese have been with us forever, domesticated for their meat and feathers, not to mention their guardianship properties. In this episode, we delve into geese in all their beauty and practicality. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello Bruce. How do you do Simon? It's lovely to see your smiling face. What a shame all the listeners can't see it I know never mind they can hear that they can hear the smile in my voice indeed indeed yes and that's mostly because that's what I do for a living what smile well no voice oh voice yes do you know the smile is free and is and is pretty much there all the time yes it is pretty much yeah yeah yeah but you know the voice the voice is some well the voice is there all the time. It's just the microphone that's not always there. Yes they did it good that's it it's the edition of a microphone that makes you and I professional voiceover artists. Well no it's not it's years of training and experience and flamboyant character and exactly so on but the microphone helps. So I'm not Simon Wells. And I'm not Bruce

Fielding. We are podcasters. We are. And we have this podcast called Factorally, where we take a relatively dull subject and just talk about it for 30 minutes. Yes. Also. Yeah. Right. So it's geese. Yes. Or is it goose's? Ah, right. Well, no, it's geese. Is it? Yeah You know that the plural of goose is geese the plural of goose is geese, but the plural of moose isn't meese Okay, and the plural of gander? ganders, okay I'm gonna take a gander at that later. Yes. Let's do that. So there's a reason for this This is one of those old English things, you know, to sort of prove how ridiculous the English language is.

The plural of goose is geese, but the plural of moose is moose, not meese. And it's all about where the word comes from. So goose has a Germanic background. So the old English... So is that why geese do the goose step? Oh, that's very good. Oh, I might dig out the old badum tish sound effect for that one. Yeah so the old English word goose, it's always meant goose, comes from a Germanic dialect where the word was more like guns or gens and Germanic words have a tendency to change the vowel when they are pluralized. So,

you know, anything that sort of has its roots in a Germanic language, mouse becomes mice, goose becomes geese. And that process, I hadn't realized it, that process is called umlauting. You know an umlaut, the two little dots above a vowel in German. That word doesn't just mean the icon itself. It's actually the process of changing a vowel sound for a different meaning. So goose gets umlautied to geese, whereas the word moose is a derivative of a Native American word where they don't do that. Which is why moose isn't pluralised to meese. Well I never did. Neither did I.

to meese. Well I never did. Neither did I. So that's where the word goose comes from. What is a goose? Have you got a definitive definition of what a goose is Bruce? They live on the canal and my dog barks at them. Okay so geese are the same as boats. It doesn't usually bark at boats. Doesn't it? Oh well that's totally different then. I have a website called Barking at Geese which is basically lots of creative writing. Oh brilliant that's a great name. And it's basically because my dog barks at geese. Yeah that's great. So a definition I found it's slightly awkward but a goose is a large water bird with a long neck short legs webbed feet and a short broad bill.

So a swan? Exactly, that sounds like a swan. So it goes on to sort of suggest that a goose is larger than a duck, but it's smaller and has a shorter neck than a swan. So it seems to me that a goose only exists in comparison to two other creatures that it is not. Yes, but it tastes better than swan and duck. I've never had swan, well actually I've never had goose so I can't make the comparison. Have you? Do you think that's the case? If I'd had had swan I wouldn't admit to it.

No. Certainly not on air. But no, I haven't had swan. Fine. I have a duck and I have had goose. And goose I think is not, it's very fatty but it's very nice, very delicious flavour. Okay, so that's what a goose is. We talked about the origin of the word goose. There are a couple of other interesting words associated with goose. A female goose is called a goose. A goose, yeah. You don't often get that but they're sort of the loose term goose

for all of those animals that look like geese. Yes. But specifically a female one of those things is called a goose. A male goose is a gander. Uh huh. Where we get taking a gander to mean having a look at something which allegedly comes from the idea of a goose sort of stretching its neck out as if trying to get a good look at something. Oh is it? I thought it was rhyming slang. Well I thought it was rhyming slang as well I couldn't find any evidence to that it does seem to be suggestive of a goose craning its neck like a crane not a goose. And baby geese are called goslings. So what do you know about geese? What interesting things have you found? They're very good guard dogs. Guard dogs?

Yeah. Right. So geese are employed in Brazilian prisons. Okay. To prevent prisoners from breaking out. Oh, did you mention this on our episode on prisons? I think I might have done. This is suddenly ringing a bell? Yeah there are four jails in Brazil that use geese to help prevent escapes in San Paulo's Paraiba Valley and they say that nobody's escaped since they pulled the geese in. Really? Yeah. I mean that can't be due to the I mean I know geese who are reasonably powerful and. I mean that can't be due to the I mean I know geese are reasonably powerful and aggressive and snappy creatures. They make a noise. But is that isn't it? It's the fact

they act as an alarm signal. Absolutely and they sleep with one eye open so they're always alert. They're also quite useful for I think we talked about this on another episode as well, we talked about cleaning chimneys. Oh yes, you chuck a goose down a chimney and they flutter about and dislodge all the soot. Yes, so you chuck it down on a rope and then you pull it back up the chimney and it dislodges all the soot with its wings as it's flapping about. You can also use chickens and turkeys and stuff. But geese are the bird of choice. There's a rule which is the blacker the bird,

the cleaner the chimney. Okay. Is this a current practice or is this something that's been outlawed and forgotten to the annals of history? I used to have a house with lots of chimneys. Yeah. And the chimney sweep did not employ geese.

Okay, fine. What else are they useful for? Oh, turning spits for roasting meat. Like, you know, like they used to have spit dogs. Oh, the dog wheel. Yes. Yes. They used to use geese as well. Did they?

Oh, imagine the poor goose if what was on the spit was a goose. Well, exactly. That would be a bad thing. They live a long time. Do they? Well, relatively, for a wild animal. For a bird, yeah.

Yeah, they can live for about 25 years. Wild Canada geese can live for about 25 years. That is quite a long time, isn't it? It is. It is. I read that in captivity they can sort of hit 30 to 35. Wow. Yeah, I would never have expected a wild goose

to be that old. You sort of walk past a gaggle of geese in the park and I would never have thought that any of them were that old. True. And they fly in a V. They do. Do you know why they fly in a V? I would imagine it's to do with aerodynamics.

That the ones at the front break up the air resistance for the ones behind. Yes, so it's energy efficient because you get some lift coming off the boat in front of you. Like cyclists. Yes, like a peloton. Yes. A peloton of geese. So it's energy efficient. I think they can save 8% energy by flying in a V. So they can go 8% further on the energy that they have by flying in a V because of the reduced wind resistance.

And they alternate who's in front so that it's not always the same bird taking the brunt of the wind resistance. They sort of swap over every now and then. Yes, a rotating leadership. Yes. Do you know what the V shape is called? I don't. Or at least the collective noun for a group of geese in flight is called a skein.

Oh okay, so a flock of geese. So a flock of geese in general. Yes. A gaggle of geese on the ground specifically and often making noise, a skein of geese flying in a V-formation and the word skein is like a skein of wool, it's a length of yarn or thread and the idea if you sort of look up to the sky and you see this group of geese it sort of looks like a bit of thread that's being pulled in the middle and the rest of the thread is wafting behind it so it's called a skein of geese. How clever.

They're useful for keeping you warm. Yeah I've often sat there on a chilly night hugging a goose to keep me warm. Well goose down. Ah yes that makes more sense. So yeah so goose down is light and warm and it's got very good breathability and air circulates quite well within goose down. I mean they make great duvets. Yes. I've got a couple of couple of geese in your duvet. I have Hungarian geese. Yeah it's really fabulous and it's sort of you get all this sort of like technical outerwear which is sort of meant to keep you warm but actually a goose down

coat will keep you warm very effectively more effectively than anything man-made. Right, okay. So for all of those reasons, feathers, protection, food, etc. geese have been domesticated for quite a while. My first image of a goose is that it's out in the wild bobbing along the Thames or something like that. But they were domesticated all the way back in Egyptian times. That's always the Egyptians. Or the Greeks. Or the Romans. Circa 3000 BC there's evidence in the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians keeping geese. For all of those reasons, you know, they produce good, rich, fatty meat, their feathers are useful, and even guarding property. Apparently there's a suggestion that the Egyptians were using guard geese. Oh, like the Brazilians? Yeah, exactly. And goose was actually a very popular food for a very long time. They're quite cheap things to breed. Goose actually used to be the bird of choice at Christmas time. Oh it still is. Oh you mean

instead of turkey? Instead of turkey, yes. I've only ever known turkey at Christmas but geese were the prevalent bird and to many people still are. It was only, well, no, that's not quite true. A Christmas Carol by Dickens popularised the idea of having turkey at Christmas. Please see our previous episode on Christmas. They were already beginning to be eaten but it was very much a Christmas Carol. The Cratchits had a meager goose for their Christmas dinner and then Scrooge post-awakening goes and buys a big fat turkey to give to the Cratchits for dinner. But yes, up until that point goose was the main thing. And apparently there was a there's a date in the Christian calendar called St. Martin's Feast or Martinmas, which is on the 11th of November. And Goose is always eaten then because of

an old fable about St Martin's. So I've never heard this before, but this fellow, St Martin of Tours in France, was due to be ordained as a bishop. And for one reason or another, he didn't want the job. So he went into hiding and he allegedly hid in a goose pen. And as the authorities were coming looking for him, the geese made a heck of a noise, as already mentioned, and he was discovered. And therefore in celebration slash commiseration of that, goose is always eaten on St. Martin's feast.

Ah, there's a nursery rhyme, isn't there? Probably. Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny then a heapney will do. If you haven't got a heapney then God bless you. Yes, indeed. And I remember thinking as a kid, why are we talking about a goose?

Surely that should be the turkey. Can we get one to Mother Goose? Yes, sure. Okay. Mother Goose is brilliant. I'm not overly familiar, actually. Are you not? I'm aware of her existence, but that's about it. Okay.

So the Tales of Mother Goose was a collection by Charles Perrault, primarily of fairy tales, but also of nursery rhymes. Right. So he originally started by collecting a load of fairy tales in about 1729. Right. A bit like the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. Yes. Going out and collecting all these folk tales.

Yeah. The ones that Charles Perrault included in his tales of Mother Goose were Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, Sleeping Beauty of the Wood, Little Thumb, Puss in Boots, Riké with the Tuft, The Fairy and Little Red Riding Hood. They were all collected together in this Tales of Mother Goose which was a massively successful book. How interesting. And then a few years later, somebody collected another Mother Goose collection, which was

nursery rhymes. And that was in 1781. Right. But I'll bet you know the the nursery rhymes that are in Mother Goose as well. Mother Goose's melody or sonnets for the cradle. Sonnets for the cradle. Yeah. So some some of the those are in there like handy dandy prickly pandy, which you probably don't know. Which hand will you have? It's like an Eeny Meeny Miny Moe. And it's German equivalent, Vindel Vindel in Welkom a Hundle. Much better. There's a Ladybird Ladybird Flyway Home.

London Bridge is falling down. Falling down? Falling down. And talking falling down Humpty Dumpty is in there as well. Right. So these were all collected together in this Mother Goose's melody. Right. Americans will tell you that there was a real person called Mother Goose. So I was going to say so why the Mother Goose? Is there a nursery rhyme or a story about mother goose? And that's just the name that this fella decided to pick

Arbitrarily by Charles Perot interesting, you know, some people think there's some sort of hidden significance in nursery rhymes Yes, okay. They're political. Yeah. Yeah, and but you know, there are a couple which were inspired by people at the time Yeah, yeah. But you know, there are a couple which were inspired by people at the time. Little Jack Horner. Yes. Sat in a corner. Supposed to be a reference to Thomas Horner of Mel's, who did well for himself during the dissolution of the monasteries. He was a politician, wasn't he? Yes. Yeah. Interesting guy. Speaking of geese that aren't really geese, you're something of a London historian, like my good self. Have you heard of the Winchester geese?

I have not. Are these the ones in the boots? No. No, okay. Right, so the Winchester geese. If you go for a walk along the river in Southwark, round the corner from Borough Market, you have the remains of Winchester Palace which is where the Bishop of Winchester used to live that was sort of his London pad and around the 12th century there were a group of shall we say ladies of the night who operated in Southwark and the Bishop of Winchester being you know that the upright religious man that he was decided that he would take

these women under his wing. He decided that he would be the sole proprietor of their business, he would license them to ply their trade and he would tax them in order to scoop off some of their income. So the pimp of Winchester? Yeah, essentially, yeah. And these women became known as the Winchester Geese, or the Bishop of Winchester's Geese, in some records. And this went on for absolutely ages. This system sort of ran from the 12th all the way through to the 17th century.

So for 500 years, the incumbent Bishop of Winchester, in his London pad, had his hand over these local ladies. To supplement the income. Yeah, of course, absolutely. And to be completely two-faced about the entire thing, when any of these women died, because of the ungodly nature of their practice, they weren't allowed to be buried in churchyards, in consecrated ground. So he's taken their money, he's given them authority to do what they do, but he's denied them a resting place in the churchyard. So there's a little pot

of land around the corner from Borough Market called Crossbones Graveyard and this was just a scrap of land that was used for burying people who were not of a particular faith, who couldn't be buried in a churchyard for whatever reason, because of their lifestyle, because they were from other faiths, whatever. Didn't believe in God. Exactly. And one by one by one, these geese, these ladies were buried in this graveyard and it sort of soon became a popular place for non-conformists and non-religious people to be buried. And you can still go and visit the place now. There's a plaque there, there's a big gate covered in sort of ribbons and padlocks and trinkets and things in memory

of people who weren't buried in consecrated ground for whatever reason, and it's become a bit of a tourist spot. And that's all because of the Winchester Goose. And apparently the term Winchester Goose became to mean the contraction of a venereal disease. Oh, oops, I've got a case of the Winchester Goose. And the pimples that you get with the aforementioned illness are allegedly what gave rise to the term goose pimples. Allegedly. Allegedly. I mean, I've always assumed that it's because when you've plucked a goose, the skin has little bumps. That's what I would assume as well. And it seems more practical, but the popularity of

the term did seem to rise around this era. So I'm going to keep it. Good old apocrypha. So the geese that we see are mostly Canada geese, aren't they? Yeah, so there are a lot of varieties. Myself and my family have a bit of a non-anthropological background, so I'm trying not to get too geeky about the variety of geese. We have quite a lot of different breeds in this country. We have pink-footed, white-breasted, Brent, Hawaiian, barnacle, Canada, Egyptian, grey-lag. There are quite a lot of them but yeah we do seem to have quite a lot of Canada geese. And we actually have a couple of breeds that are named after the place that they come from,

but they've actually ended up being indigenous to this country. So originally, Canada geese were from Canada, and they migrated to England when Canada got a bit too chilly. But actually, a bunch of these Canada geese were presented to King Charles II as a gift. In 1665, King Charles II opened up a wildfowl collection in St. James' Park in London. He had lots of different birds come from all over the world, including a bunch of Canada geese. So these Canada geese bred and bred and bred and then spread to other areas of London. So the reason we have so many Canada geese in the UK is because of this group of like five geese that King Charles II acquired in 1665.

So it's interesting because we have descendants of those geese who live in the UK all year round and have done for the last 400 years, but we do also get UK all year round and have done for the last 400 years. But we do also get Canadian Canada geese who migrate here and then go back to Canada. So at certain times of the year, our Canada geese population sort of doubles. Wow. And it's the same for Egyptian geese as well. I don't know if you've seen these things. They're quite fancy. They're quite fancy. They're sort of brown underneath, reddish brown on top. They've got a sort of a red eye patch by the look of it and they make a heck of a noise. And these things again were sort of introduced into the UK as an ornamental bird. They're originally from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Nile Valley, hence the name Egyptian goose. But they were brought to the UK somewhere around

the 17th century. Owners of big estates and parks and so on thought it would be nice to have fancy birds. You know you sort of get the occasional peacock that lives in a National Trust property or something like that. So it was the same thing and again you know a few of these birds escaped captivity, bred, and became quite successful. And then ever since 1971, the Egyptian goose has been on a list of official recognized English birds, because again, they live here all year round. They don't just come from Egypt and then go back.

They are actually descendants of those birds. But apparently an Egyptian goose isn't a goose. Is it a duck? It's a duck. It looks a bit like a duck. It looks a bit like a duck. Apparently it's too short and squat to be a true goose. It's part of the shell duck family, which is a duck. I've always found it interesting to think what, you know, is a Canada goose known as

a Canada goose in Canada or is it just called a goose? Well quite, or is it called a jacket? A jacket? Why would it be called a jacket? Well in 1957 there was a company founded called Metro Sportswear and they kind of they made woolen vests and raincoats and snow suits and stuff and then the son-in-law of the guy who started it, Sam Tick, he decided that he would make it into a bit more warmth so he bought this down machine that filled clothes with down so they started to produce

winter jackets more and they were sort of supplying parkers to police and park rangers and various people under a brand called Snowgoose. Oh right okay. And then that that sort of carried on until about 1982 and then the Sun and Law took over the company. Anyway, ultimately, snow goose in the 2000 was changed to Canada goose. Oh, I see. So you may have seen Canada goose parkers and some of these very sort of duvet looking coats. Yeah, they are eyewateringly expensive. I mean, there's there's one they make

called an umber coat which is basically just it's a normal puffer coat with zip-off sleeves 1825 quid. I beg your pardon. £1,825 to you sir. For a jacket? For a jacket. Goodness me. That's why all the rappers wear them. You see lots of rich people in their Canada Goose gear because it's expensive. Well given how common Canada geese are I can't help thinking it should be named after something a bit more fancy. What else can you use geese for? I don't know, what else?

Pens? Pens? Quills? Quills. What else can use geese for? Don't know what else pens pens quills quills So so you would keep geese for your quills, right? And in fact Thomas Jefferson bred geese specifically for how good their quill feathers were Really and do you know this thing about quills where if you're right-handed you need a left feather and if you're left-handed you need a right Oh, yes, because they sort of curve to one side or the other, don't they? Yes, yeah, exactly. Right. Yes. So yeah, so you can

you can write with a goose. Right. Is that all now? I might be making this up. Is that why we write with a pen? Look that up? I mean, gone. Yes. Let's go never have a look. Etymology of pen. So it comes from the Latin word penna, meaning feather. Well, you're right! So we mentioned briefly in passing earlier on about migrating geese. Yes. So other than the ones that live here in the UK the whole time, many geese spend a lot of their time in Greenland and Canada and

Alaska and the Arctic and jolly jolly chilly places, hence the feathers that keep you warm. When that gets a little bit too nippy they pop over here to the UK and sort of spend their autumn winter spring here. And these birds fly a tremendous distance in order to do that. Brent geese fly over 3000 miles across the Atlantic non-stop. Wow. Non-stop? Yeah. So geese are one of several birds who can actually fly whilst sleeping, or at least whilst half asleep. Yes. You mentioned earlier on they sleep with one eye open.

They actually do sleep with one eye open and they do it on the wing in flight. So geese have this function called unihemispheric sleep where they switch off half of their brain. So half of their brain goes to sleep with one eye shut and the other half of their brain. So half of their brain goes to sleep with one eye shut and the other half of their brain carries on being active with one eye open and they're not as alert as perhaps they might be. So the geese who are sort of at the front of the skein, you know, taking the lead, they will stay wide awake and alert and in charge of the group and then they'll sort of switch positions and you know swap over. But by and then they'll sort of switch positions and swap over.

But by and large, yeah, these geese can fly 3,000 odd miles half asleep so they don't have to land. They'll land every now and then to graze and drink and so on but they can fly a heck of a long way. Canada geese can travel over 1,000 miles in a single day. That's amazing, I'm stunned. It's impressive isn't it? Amazing. Many other birds do it a different way, they sort of sleep for bursts of 10 seconds at a time and then wake up again so they'll sort of be flying hell forever. Like driving on a motorway. Yeah they'll just drift off for 10 seconds, take a little bit of a dip in their flight and then sort of spark back to life again. But no geeks actually take prolonged sleeps with half of their brain switched off. That's brilliant. That migration has made some wonderful films, especially one wonderful I don't know if you've seen it called Fly Away Home.

has made some wonderful films, especially one wonderful I don't know if you've seen it called fly away home. I have Yes, is that the one where? Oh, they just as Jeff Daniels, they sort of use a glide and microlinks. That's right. Yeah, to teach the geese to fly away. If you don't know this film, it's such a feel good rainy Sunday afternoon film. It's called fly away home. And it's about actually, that's another thing that the Goldsling series they imprint. So the first thing they see, they assume is their mother. Oh, yes, that's another thing that the Goldsling series they imprint. So the first thing they see they assume is their

mother. Oh, yes, that's right. Yeah. So this this bunch of eggs which have been rescued hatch and the first thing they see is Anna Paquin. Yeah, made in about 1996. But it's a fabulous film. It's such fun. There are actually a few sort of geese films Father Goose back in 1964 not which is Carrie Grant and Leslie Caron it was basically Carrie Carrie Grant in the Pacific on a small island I write okay and the the Japanese are after various people and Leslie Caron is a teacher with a whole load of French school

children who end up on this island and Carrie Grant is this misogynistic old grouch who doesn't like children and he's lumbered with Leslie Caron and a whole bunch of female school children. Right and presumably there's an amazing transformational character life-changing thingy that takes place. There is. Very very sweet films and then not so sweet but actually very rare these days there was a TV film called the snow goose right in 1971 which is about Dunkirk okay it's all about a guy who owns a wetlands in Essex which is populated by geese right

and he protects the geese and played by Richard Harris okay and it's all about how he went to how this farmer went to Dunkirk and saved people off the beaches. Richard Harris is also in another film about geese, except it's not quite the same film. It's called Wild Geese. OK. Which is from 1978.

I'll give you the cast. OK, so apart from Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Hardy Krueger, Stuart Granger, Jeff Corey, Frank Finley, Barry Foster, Kenneth Griffith. I mean, this is a big star movie. And you've never heard of it, have you? No, I'm afraid I haven't. So yeah, made in 1978. It's about a bunch of mercenaries who fly off to Africa to rescue a new African leader who's being hunted and aimed to be assassinated. And they free him and bring him back to safety. Does Guinness have anything to say about geese?

Does Guinness have anything to say about geese? Yes it does. I'm always a little bit wary of doing records about animals because the animals aren't aware that they're going for the records. This is someone who has measured or monitored or watched an animal, determined which breed of animal does it better, faster, whatever, and therefore it's gone into the record books. You know it's not someone attempting a record but we've got them nonetheless. So we've got the fastest breed of goose, generally speaking geese fly somewhere between 30 to 40 miles an hour, which is quite fast. If they're doing a thousand miles a day. They don't have to wouldn't they? Yeah, exactly

So that's sort of the average speed they can get up to 70 miles per hour with a useful prevailing wind But the fastest flying species of goose is called the spur-winged goose native to Africa and they can get up to 88 miles per hour Which is these travel through time exactly Which I love because it just happens to be the speed at which the DeLorean enters time travel. I'm just sort of picturing this entire skein of geese all flooring it. Flux capacitor, fluxing.

The oldest goose, we already talked about sort of the average age range of geese, sort of 20, 25 years in the wild, 30 odd years in captivity. In 1976, a goose called George, who was owned by Florence Hull of Lancashire, a name like Hull living in Lancashire, that's a bit divisive, but I was going to say, George the goose died at the age of 49 years and 8 months. Oh wow. So he has the record of being the oldest ever goose. And then we've got the biggest goose, is a goose called Maxie, who is from Missouri. And Maxie stands a very proud 40 feet tall.

What? With a wingspan of 65 feet. This is not a real goose. And she's made of fiberglass. Why is she? Why is she? That's a very good question. So this is a statue of a goose located in a place called Sumner in Missouri in the United States, which is dubbed the wild goose capital of the world. Oh okay. Why? I don't know. They are particularly popular with geese but apparently they are. And there's a local wildlife refuge there called Swan Lake. Of course there is. Which again it's the goose capital of the world they have a wildlife refuge called Swan Lake anyway but to commemorate this location

an artist from Kansas City called David Jackson created this 40 foot tall two tonne fiberglass goose with its wings out with his wings out it's quite big yeah so so this wildlife park is called Swan Lake yes did you know that occasionally geese and swans mate? I didn't. I don't think I've ever really thought about it, but I suppose they're roughly compatible, aren't they? They are. And the younglet hatch is called a swoose.

A swoose? Yes. Half swan, half goose. Yes. If you got a group of those, would they be swiss? That's brilliant. Well, I think that's all the goose related facts I have. I think I'm out for a goose. Oh, that's a duck, isn't it? That's a duck.

Yes, I've run out of goose related facts. I shall go step my way away from the microphone and say thank you very much for listening. Indeed, thank you for coming along and listening to us honking on about geese. If you've enjoyed listening to this, we would be most grateful if you'd go and give us a lovely shiny five-star review please. Oh yes please and leave a note to say what it is that you liked about Geese. Yes and then having done that please tell all your nerdy friends about us so that they can come along and join in the fun as well. Absolutely and of course I mean because you're hearing this you've probably subscribed already to the podcast haven't you? Probably yeah. But just in case. So thank you all for coming along.

Please come again next time for another fun-filled factual episode of Quactorally. Quactorally. Doing geese, not ducks. Sorry. I'll allow it. Will you allow it? I'll allow it.

OK, Quactorally. Thank you very much. Au revoir. Bye for now.