THOUSANDS of geese have been reported as flocking over the Woolston Eyes and roosting on the Mersey.

The geese, which have travelled almost 900 miles from Iceland, have been described as a 'great spectacle that's not normally associated with Warrington.'

An estimate of between 8,000 and 10,000 geese have been spotted flocking across Warrington, and roosting on the Mersey.

Brian Martin lives in Grappenhall, and is a recorder for the Woolston Eyes Conservation Group, and he said that an 'unprecedented' number of geese have been spotted in the area.

He moved to Warrington in the 1980s, and he said: "I didn't expect there to be as much wildlife to rival Northumberland [where he moved from] but Woolston Eyes is an incredibly important wetlands site, not just regionally, but of national importance."

The geese in question are pink-footed geese, and they migrate annually to the UK, and Brian says they often move across the country and down to Norfolk for most of the winter.

Brian said: "I was down near Latchford Locks with my wife and we saw them down there, too.

"They're starting to roost on the Mersey as well, which is quite new, it's something they've only done in the past year or so."

The passionate conservationist added: "I'm used to recording numbers of flocking birds, and there was a minimum of 10,000 but probably even more."

Brian said that the geese could be spotted flying high early on Sunday evening, which he described as a 'spectacle' against a red sky.

Pink-footed geese are described as being smaller than mute geese, but bigger than a mallard - they weigh somewhere between two and three kilos, and have a wingspan of one-and-a-half-metres.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) estimates that more than 500,000 geese flock to the UK every year, and the birds can be seen in the country between September and April, usually flocking to Norfolk.

Pink-footed geese are an 'amber' protected bird species, which means that the birds' conservation is of moderate concern, but they are not currently threatened.

Brian says that the geese can be spotted from Woolston Eyes roosting on the Mersey down to Latchford Locks, and as far away as Runcorn, too.