'Incredibly rare' bird hatched in West Lothian
An ‘incredibly rare’ breed of bird has hatched at a wildlife centre in West Lothian.
Almond Valley Heritage Centre welcomed a Shetland gosling to the farm on May 16.
It has been placed in with other ducklings so that it won’t get lonely.
The staff hope the gosling’s mother will nest again this year producing more eggs.
Shetland goslings are on the Rare Breed Survival Trust’s (RBST) priority list representing breeds of most concern, which are both rare and have increased inbreeding.
Farm manager Craig Holmes said: “We have two breeding pairs, with each female normally having between eight and ten eggs, but this year one of the birds only had two eggs.
“We would normally take the eggs off the female to artificially incubate them as each egg is so valuable for conservation, but as she only had two we left her to sit on them.
“We are hopeful the female will nest again this year, which is also why we took the baby away, as if mum had reared the gosling she might not have nested again.
“We are hand rearing it, but it doesn’t take much work, goslings are pretty low maintenance.
“It is important for us to boost their numbers as they are so rare.”