Greylag Geese

Recently a small flock of Greylag geese can be seen in Cabragh Wetlands each day on the flooded grasslands and are easily visible from the pathways. These geese are the ancestors of most domestic geese. The geese are migratory, moving south or west in winter,. This species is one of the last to migrate, and it is thought that "greaylag" signifies in English "late", "last", or "slow", as in laggard, a loiterer, or old terms such as lagman, the last man, lagteeth, the posterior molar or "wisdom" teeth (as the last to appear), and lagclock, a clock that is behind time. Thus the Greylag Goose is the grey goose, which in England when the name was given, was not strongly migratory but lagged behind the other wild goose species when they left for their northern breeding quarters.