Geese like to have easy access to and from water - so a good way of making a site less attractive to them is to fence off water areas.

For a solution to deal with an immediate problem, trained collies are effective. This is a technique more and more widely used in the United States. Geese fear collies because they move in much the same way as foxes. Trained dogs can very effectively scatter a grazing flock by attempting to round them up - and cause them to fly elsewhere. It is important that the dogs are trained so that they do not attempt to attack the geese. Contact local farmers to provide such dogs.

If the geese are flying in every morning from a roosting-ground, then make sure the collies are there when they attempt to land. They will then return to the bigger roosting-ground rather than settle in smaller and less suitable urban areas.

3. Signs

In small, urban areas like parks it makes good sense to try and limit feeding - because bread is not a natural diet, and not good for the birds.

Uncontrolled feeding is the main cause of over-population of Canada geese in areas too small to sustain them naturally.

Polite but firm notices are essential - for the good of the birds as well as the public.

Suggested wording:

Feeding zone

Please feed the birds in this area only.

Too much bread pollutes the water, and and birds can suffer/have suffered serious and sometimes fatal diseases as a direct result of this.

Canada geese do not spend all their time here – but fly in from their roosting-grounds every morning. If less bread were available, more would stay put in these bigger areas which are their natural habitat: which would be healthier for them.

So please feed small amounts only.

General advice when trying to deter Canada geese is to try and make the area less attractive. Geese like to have access to fairly short-cut grass for grazing, and an uninterrupted escape route across water. So try the following:-

1) If at all possible, try cutting grass shorter still or else grow longer, tougher fescue grass.

2) Plant shrubs - especially preventing visibility out across water. Geese then fear that predators may be lurking behind these and cutting off potential escape routes.

3) If feasible, plant rushes in the water itself and on lake-beds to re-oxygenate water and also to make water areas less attractive to geese.