Goose is ready to gander

Northumberland Wildlife Trust is always delighted to welcome new volunteers to the team, but the latest recruit is proving to be a hit with everybody he meets.

Seventeen-week old cocker spaniel Goose is being trained as a wildlife detection dog by his owners, Ellesse Janda and Tony Nellis to give a helping ‘nose’ to the wildlife charity as it continues surveying for water voles across the region’s waterways.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust lead volunteer and freelance social science consultant,  Ellesse recently spent a four month placement with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Forestry England, conducting water vole surveys in Kielder Forest and Water, following the completion of  the Restoring Ratty water vole reintroduction project that saw over 2,000 captively bred voles released  into the North Tyne catchment area.

Ellesse quickly realised that surveying for water voles in Kielder wasn’t easy with extremely changing habitats and quickly rising water levels washing away signs of water vole activity – which is where Goose comes in.

Dogs have a significant advantage over humans – an amazing sense of smell. Whilst scent-trained dogs have been used for years for various jobs, including sniffing out contraband, explosives, and medical conditions, they are now being used to help conservationists’ work to preserve endangered species with.

Very often conservationists need to carry out surveys to determine whether a species is present in the area and the size of its population. Conducting such surveys can be quite intensive for humans, especially in challenging habitats, with delicate signs such as droppings or burrows being missed.

Still in its infancy, dogs such as Goose are now being trained to detect and follow the scent of certain animals which great news for wildlife conservationists as it gives them a much more accurate picture to work with in significantly less time! 

Goose is currently working with specialist trainers to hone his sniffing abilities and will undertake further training with LANTRA to become accredited in conservation dog detecting and handling before joining fellow volunteers for the 2025 survey season. His sniffing skills will increase the accuracy of water vole populations and help with the collation of data needed to measure the success and longevity of the Restoring Ratty project and, future water vole reintroduction projects.

Even more exciting, Goose will also be using his nose to detect pine martens, one of the UK’s rarest carnivores. Once a widespread species, pine martin populations drastically declined, however, there are signs they are making a comeback, and he and Ellesse are keen to work with the wildlife charity as it carries out its large-scale pine martin survey across the north of England. 

Ellesse Janda, volunteer, freelance social science consultant and Goose’s owner says:

“Wildlife detection dogs are amazing and have also been used to sniff out any number of animals including bats, squirrels, and birds. They have even been used to sniff out invasive plants!

“It’s baby steps for Goose, but who knows what other species he’ll add to his sniffing list in the future – it’s very much up to him. At the moment, he’s just loving the attention from his fellow volunteers.” 

Follow Goose and his training and detecting antics on Instagram and TikTok @goose.in.the.hoose