Norfolk conservationist Nick Acheson spent the winters of 2020 and 2021 following geese across the region on his bike.

And now Mr Acheson is preparing to release a first-hand account of his lockdown winters as a goose chaser - The Meaning of Geese will be published on February 9.

The book follows the author - who was born and grew up in Fakenham - living through the pandemic which left him without work and unable to see family.

It is the first book he has been the sole author of, and it completely consumed his life.

“I’ve always felt with books, you have got to mean it, there is no point trotting something out, you have to be completely consumed by it,” he said.

“I have been waiting for the right thing to come along to write on. So I would cycle during the day and at night I would write.

“All of it was written on the day that I had seen it, what I felt."

Eastern Daily Press: Nick Acheson's bike which he used as a teenager to explore Norfolk's wildlife was the same he used to follow the GeeseNick Acheson's bike which he used as a teenager to explore Norfolk's wildlife was the same he used to follow the Geese (Image: Nick Acheson)

Mr Acheson - who is a Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Pensthorpe ambassador - cycled a 40-year-old bike with a heavy steel frame to bird-watching hubs including Cley and Holkham.

He spotted species including pink footed geese, which come to Norfolk every year looking for food, returning from their breeding season in Iceland and Greenland.

Mr Acheson said he had witnessed many sights that had become fond memories over the two years.

He said: “I cycled to Docking and saw 20,000 birds - pink footed geese and rare geese with them. It was like meditation watching them.

Eastern Daily Press: Greylag geese, which is one of the species that are here year-round and breed. They breed along the Wensum around Dereham and FakenhamGreylag geese, which is one of the species that are here year-round and breed. They breed along the Wensum around Dereham and Fakenham (Image: Nick Acheson)

“You spend hours shivering, hiding in a hedge not wanting to scare them, you lose yourself in the life of the geese.

“Right at the end when the first baby barnacle geese appeared up at the lake in Holkham, at that moment I realised the winter geese had gone and the spring had come, so it's time to stop now."