Just because you can

This is an Upland Goose:They live everywhere in the Falklands – we see them around Stanley, out on the Islands, out in Camp, all over the place. They’re among the most common birds here and, as they eat quite a bit of grass, they’re not a farmer’s favourite. In times gone by, there would be a bounty on their beaks and the Museum here has wire strings of beaks handed in to Farm Managers to claim a small prize.

Now they’re at least sort-of protected in Stanley (you can’t shoot guns in town, but you could theoretically kill one with bolos), but otherwise they’re fair game. There’s no shortage of them, so they’re in no danger yet. They’re usually used for paté, which I have to admit is distinct but nice. This time of year, ‘egging’ is a common past-time out in Camp (with some working dogs specially trained for the purpose), so I thought I’d take the opportunity to try my second unique egg from here (some may remember the penguin egg trials). One of my tutor group kindly brought me an upland goose egg from their weekend’s bounty:

In comparison with our hens’ eggs

Serving of choice: fried

Lunch: standard

That makes two eggs I never could have predicted I’d try in my lifetime. As we slide into our third year here, so much has become so normal but sometimes it’s the little things that catch you realising it’s an unusual life we lead.