A TECHNIQUE known as egg addling – a non-lethal wildlife management method used to control bird populations – has been approved by the government for a species of goose causing havoc in Grouville.
It typically involves treating eggs early in their development by coating them in a type of oil that prevents the embryo developing so they do not grow before returning them to their nest.
The feral greylag geese have been trampling the environment, wreaking havoc – and have been branded a “high-risk invasive non-native species”.
They have been damaging the soil with their webbed feet, killing too many prey and their polluting the water through their faeces causing something known as eutrophication – which is when the water’s nutrient balance is disrupted.
An Environment Department spokesperson said: “Feral greylag geese are damaging the sensitive nature of Grouville Marsh site of special interest – a legally protected site designated for its ecological features.”
They added that this this in turn impacts other species at the site by “damaging the area” and “causing impacts to all animals and plants that depend on this area to survive – many of which are also legally protected”.
The issue was first reported to officers from the department in 2024, after “local stakeholders” anecdotally told them they had witnessed hundreds of them stomping around in the area.
Since then, the department has been monitoring them on a monthly basis, and while they say the number they have counted can go up and down each month, the spokesperson said that on average there are 250 “feral individuals in the area”.
Planning permission has been granted for the egg-addling of feral greylag geese nests in two fields near La Cache des Prés in Grouville. Permission for the use of egg addling has been granted for a temporary three-year period and is subject to strict conditions.
