There are five words that every birdwatcher dreads: you have just missed it.

After making the trek to Horton’s Mound with its panoramic views over Tice’s Meadow, I heard this phrase.

The bird which generated the excitement was a Red-Breasted Goose, which dropped in, had a quick look, and decided not to stay.

I was sceptical. Only 16 have been sighted in Hampshire since 1967 as this endangered species breed in the Siberian tundra and winters in Bulgaria and Romania.

And it turns out the bird in question was probably an escapee from a wildfowl collection so it did not count as a “twitch”.

But this got me pondering about the phenomenon of twitching and the more mundane topic of geese at Tice’s.

Most birders like myself make lists, but when a rare bird is sighted its whereabouts is posted on social media and everything is dropped.

There are three geese species at the reserve: Canada, Egyptian and Greylag, and all three are there thanks to human activity.

Canada geese were introduced from North America in 1665 to the waterfowl collection of Charles II in St James Park. They subsequently became a popular addition to many collections, but evidence of breeding in the wild was sparse until the end of the nineteenth century.

Although some fly north to moult, they do not migrate in the UK as they do in North America, and are generally quite sedentary, usually flying only five km between their feeding grounds and roosts.

They are a sociable species, frequently nesting in close proximity, and the dominant males will frequently act as nursemaids to the recently fledged goslings.

The Greylag became extinct in England in the early nineteenth century but was reintroduced in the 1960s by translocation from flocks in Scotland.

The reintroduction has been very successful and the species is now found throughout England.

The growing population is less popular with the farming community, as they graze growing cereal crops, grass leys and permanent pasture. The combination of a herbivore diet, and a not particularly efficient digestive system means they defecate every four minutes.

The Egyptian Goose which was introduced from its native north Africa to be kept in wildfowl collections.

Inevitably, some escaped and stated breeding, and now we have a growing population.

The bird is not well adapted to our climate and they tend to mate and nest very early in the year, with consequent low survival rates. They are very territorial, so breeding densities are lower than with the other two species.

They are easily recognised in flight by the huge white panels on their upper wings, and if you see a goose perched in a tree it is an Egyptian.

The Tice’s Meadow Bird Group are holding a Nest Box Buildathon at the Kiln, Badshot Lea Village Hall on Saturday, February 22.

Why not help them build more than 100 nest boxes to donate to local schools and community groups?

No booking, just turn up, with details on the Tice’s website and Facebook page.