The Baker’s Dozen

Today was a very exciting day. I headed out in search of The Fab Four and Famous Five, eager to see if they had joined up. And it wasn’t long before I was rewarded.

That’s right, the Nefarious Nine. Only, hang on, let me count them…13??

I should explain: last year, I kept seeing bigger and bigger groups of goslings. Sometimes as many as 20, but accompanied by only 2 adults. I thought, surely one goose doesn’t lay that many eggs? And no, they don’t. 4 or 5 seems to be the average. But if you have a lot of geese nesting close to each other, as they are along this stretch of the canal, the adults will often share parenting responsibilities. Kinda like a creche. So whilst these swimming lessons are going on, just a little way along the canal, the rest of the geese can get on with begging for food from passersby and scaring young human children.

Is it always the same adults that run the creche, or do they take it in turns? At this stage, I don’t know. I shall be keeping a close eye on them and who knows, one day I might even catch the moment when they hand over the gaggle to the next shift.

I’m pretty sure this group is an amalgamation of the Fab Four and Famous Five, plus another four they picked up along the way. The Fantastic Four, perhaps? And naturally, all together they have to be The Baker’s Dozen. It’s a great relief, to be honest, as the Nefarious Nine didn’t suit them at all.

So now we have John, Paul, George, Ringo, Julian, Dick, Anne, George, Timmy, Mr Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Woman and The Thing. Who will join them next?

Obviously, the stray one on the left of the photo below is The Thing, he just can’t quite fit in with the others.

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