How many geese?

5 years, 10 seasons, 100 episodes, 1 finale.  The question of how to end How Many Geese is one we've mulled over for months, but we knew we really couldn't do it without the people that have the made the show such a joy for us to make - you guys.  So join us on a trip down memory lane as we hear some of your favourite moments from goose history, pull back the curtain for some behind the scenes rev...

For 5 years, there is one country that has been our spiritual home - Nature's Thunderdome.  In a homage to a place that has given us so much over the last 99 episodes, this episode is a deep dive into the most chaotic collection of creatures on the planet. But is Australia as dangerous as we've made out all these years? Join as we delve into the stats, make some surprising discoveries and crown th...

It's time to take the King's shilling and head out to sea as this episode starts with naval tales as a walrus takes on a Russian navy boat, before Roddy grabs a calculator and does some truly bonkers marine mammal maths. Once the calculations are finished though, we take a look at how our activities at sea have impacted ecosystems in ways (perhaps, the naïve amongst us!) would never have thought.....

Evolution has carefully crafted species over milennia, tinkering with them in the face of each new challenge to produce the wonders of life that lay before us today. Today's episode takes a look at just how easy it is for humans to ruin that as we bend the species of the earth to our will in one of the most fascinating processes we've subjected nature to - domestication.  Once you've wrapped your...

Join us this week as we hide the machinery of knowledge behind the fleshy exterior of whimsy and delve into the world of robot animals. Armed with nothing but silliness, a can do attitude and ... a certain Australian's filmography, we take a look at examples of where creatures and cybernetics are colliding around the world.  The arena expands this week to welcome Henry as Roddy joins forces to tak...

Today's episode is sitting round the campfire with a torch under its face as we share some spooky stories from the natural world. We take a peek into the world of ghostly animals, both real and... questionable, before delving into one of the most extraordinary tales we've ever told on the show... Roddy then takes the fight to the mountains of Germany as he does battle with a subterranean monster -...

Here we go listener, we have lift off on HMG's final voyage as season 10 kicks off in style.  In honour of our noble goose mission over the last 5 years of trying to make a nature podcast that you'd have fun listening to, Roddy is shining a light on fun in the animal kingdom. Do animals just have fun? And if so, which ones and why?  Our fight segment got Roddy dressing up all fancy as he takes on...

Time to get those waders on listeners as we head into the aquatic realm for this episode of HMG.  Martha Glennon, from Not Bourne Yesterday (and the People vs. Sea Otters fame), is our guide into the crystal clear, watery world of chalk streams - Britain's rarest type of habitat.  We find out about what makes them so special, what lives inside them and what YOU can do to find yourself having a lov...

Marilyn Monroe, Brad Pitt, Pamela Anderson, Marlon Brando... the list of heart-throbs goes on and on, but we at HMG have only ever had eyes for one bird. In this very special episode we head down to Hampshire, to the Hawk Conservancy Trust, to come face to face with the object of our affections. Tom Morath is our wingman for this very special date as he brings us face to face with the sexiest anim...

Listeners, allow us to welcome you to a podcast 166 million years in the making...  Like most people interested in nature, we absolutely had a dinosaur phase (Jack arguably never left it). It's been an aim of ours to do some sort of dinosaur special on the show for a while, but never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd actually get to JOIN AN EXCAVATION.  Have a listen as we visited a quarry i...

In a masterpiece of editorial writing from Master Shaw, he rounds out the finale of season 9 with a deep dive into nature's finales - lost species and endlings. We're also setting foot into uncharted territory as we welcome the first Great Ape into the fight arena, as we make war (not love) with those promiscuous primates - the Bonobos.  We finish our calibration with Green Feathers by looking at...

We're running around like headless chickens this week as the penultimate episode for Season 9 takes a trip to mid century America and meets a most unlikely celebrity - Mike the headless chicken.  Roddy does battle with one of the most fearsome fish in freshwater in the Asian Arowana, Jack busts some myths on penguins for our sponsors Green Feathers and we get our best Hollywood agent acts on as we...

Something a little different for you today listeners, as we're delving into the uncomfortable truths surrounding bird feeding and whether it's the right thing to do...  For more reading on the subject, you can download this excellent paper that talks about the potential ecological impacts of bird feeding here: www.researchgate.net/publication/353996228_Killing_with_kindness_Does_widespread_general...

It's time to salute the flag and sing your national anthem with gusto listeners, as Roddy takes us on a tour of some of the world's national animals. Quizmaster Shaw is hosting Geese's answer to Eurovision as he unleashes an iconic animals Euroquiz upon your ears.  In today's fight we welcome Patreon member Tom Hone into the ring, as he tag teams with Roddy in the frozen wastes of the Antarctic Oc...

Ready the tea leaves and polish your crystal balls, we are discussing divination with doves and dodos as Jack takes us through the ancient practice of bird augury - beginning in the most unlikely of places, and with a snail... But that's not all of course as Roddy does battle with a hellish giant of the deep - the deep sea isopod - and the pair discuss which animals would make the best gang for a...

In a throw back to when we disarmed the bat bomb in Season 5, we are donning our combat gear and heading to the front lines to look at how and when animals have been involved in war throughout history. With everything from a cat receiving an award for gallantry, to battle dolphins, through to how modern conflict is - in some instances - helping preserve parts of the natural world, we uncover the g...

BOOM! Today's episode is blowing biology wide open as we take a look at exploding animals and why some species have evolved the most hardcore defensive behaviours on Planet Earth.  Our journey into the world of feathers continues as we hop in the goose time machine to look back to their origins and see what the dinosaurs were dressed in. Then it's time for our fight segment where we welcome Patreo...

Listener, what's the craziest thing you've found growing where it shouldn't...?  Whilst you get to leaving your answers in the comments, Roddy is taking us all through some of the wildest things that nature has sprouted in unexpected places.  Then it's time for another feather segment with our pals Green Feathers, where we go all shmancy and don our Eider down jackets to learn about the extraordin...

WE. ARE. BACK - and season nine (NINE!) is off to a flying start as Jack takes us through just what all those salmon hat wearing orcas were up to in the news - and used the topic to ask questions about culture in other creatures. If the fashion news of the century passed you by, then you can take a look at them strutting their salmon-y stuff here. Then, in our new sponsored segment - where we'll b...

We are popping up on Christmas eve to share a sneak peek (sneak hear?) of our Christmas special which has just dropped over on the Goose Patreon! The full episode covers everything from 14th century Sardinian Queens, to Octopi on Christmas cards and a recasting of some nativity guests with wildlife's wisest wonders! (IS this the one time we will accept a chimp??) Sign up by the 10th of January and...

Join us before the year ends as we doff our caps and bend the knee in a chat with Peter Kaestner - ex American diplomat and man who has seen more bird species than anyone else in the world! Peter takes us through the world of bird watching at the elite level, and how his love for birds led him to a career that saw him serve his country and travel the globe in search of birds. With a life thoroughl...

Much like the sun setting on a seaside town, season 8 draws to a close with the raucous cries of seagulls as we take on a newspaper article that set out to find Britain's hardest gulls. It wouldn't be How many geese? though if we didn't meander to Melbourne or detour to Darwin, and true to form our friends down under have their own tales to tell of tackling seaside seagull shenanigans in trying to...

I can guarantee to you listeners that the start of this week's episode is going to leave you completely baffled as to where it's going, as Roddy embarks on an exploration of what on earth dry cleaners are and the sorcery that goes along with their dark arts. But, stick with us, and we promise it eventually finds its way back to the nature vibe as we explore the world of cleaning behaviour in the a...

How many geese? has seen its fair share of drugged up animals - from the Hollywood sensation that is cocaine bear, through to Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos - but in this episode we're here to see the effects of things slightly more "over the counter" as Jack takes us through the impact of excess anti-depressants on the environment. If you've ever wondered about the internet claiming "they're turn...

Cast your minds back Goose fans and you may well remember an episode entitled "Hot bear summer", where our own Roddy Shaw went on a mission to prove that Antelope were animals worth our attention and shouldn't just be consigned to being eaten by a big cat on a David Attenborough show. The conclusion of his mission was that they were indeed incredibly dull, and so proclaimed them one of the most bo...