Chicks get swimming lesson from Mother Goose...

It's all going swimmingly: Mother geese take baby chicks for a refreshing dip

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 7:29 PM on 2nd May 2011

It was the perfect day for a swimming lesson as these Greylag geese and their chicks decided to cool off at the lake. 

Crowds spotted the gaggle as they enjoyed the Bank Holiday sunshine at Cod Beck Reservoir in Osmotherley on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.

Around thirty chicks pottered at the water's edge before taking the plunge under their mothers' watchful gaze.

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Having a gander: The Greylag chicks follow the proud parent geese on Cod Beck reservoir, North Yorkshire

Areas of the picturesque reservoir had been reduced to cracked mud after a prolonged dry spell but the baby birds managed to take advantage of the water that remains.

The Greylag is the largest of the wild geese species that are native to Britain. The bird can be spotted in lowland areas of the country and even in park lakes.

Numbers have been in decline over the past few decades and normally they only breed in the wild in the far north of Scotland and Outer Hebrides. 

Fluffy flock: Greylag chicks rest on the banks of the reservoir

However there have been programmes by wildlife organisations to reintroduce feral populations across the country. The breeding habitat of the Greylag is a variety of wetlands including marshes, lakes and damp heather moors.

The 'lag' part of the bird's name is said to derive from the fact that it is one of the last species to migrate. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382787/Its-going-swimmingly-Mother-geese-baby-chicks-refreshing-dip.html#ixzz1LEor8YEe