A bagpiper leads the procession and burial of Thomas the bisexual goose on a windswept day on the shores of the Waimanu Lagoon in Waikanae on the Kāpiti Coast.

They carried him in a tiny coffin to the grave beside his life partner Henry, while a kilted bagpiper played a mournful song.

The mayor spoke words of comfort.

Kāpiti Coast's blind, bisexual goose, Thomas was laid to rest in public ceremony on Saturday, marking the end of a life spent delighting residents and bird lovers.

SUE LUSK/SUPPLIED A piper leads the procession for the funeral of Thomas the goose, near Waimanu Lagoon, in Waikanae on the Kāpiti Coast.

The popular goose was buried next to his partner of nearly 30 years, a black swan named Henry, on the edge of the Waikanae lagoon the pair called home, north of Wellington.

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Attendee Sue Lusk, of Waikanae, said about 60 people went to the funeral, which included a bagpiper leading the procession, and a speech by Kāpiti Coast mayor K Gurunathan.

STUFF Thomas the goose, previously at his new home in Ohariu Valley, having been relocated from the Waimanu Lagoon in Waikanae Beach.

She said a tiny field mouse popped out of the ground as people gathered to drop spadefuls of earth on Thomas' grave.

"You had this nice feeling of – without being too stupid – the continuation of life. It was lovely."

Lusk said a friend had been sceptical about the funeral, asking whether there weren't more important issues in the world than holding a funeral for a goose.

SUE LUSK/SUPPLIED Kāpiti Coast mayor K Gurunathan speaks at the funeral of Thomas the goose at Waimanu Lagoon, Waikanae.

"This was just very special, and it brought the community together, and it was a lovely story of good things."

After 18 happy gay years together, Thomas and Henry were disrupted with the arrival of Henrietta, who shacked up and had cygnets with Henry.

However the trio stayed together, with the swans raising 68 cygnets and Thomas playing the role of doting uncle.

SUPPLIED Thomas the goose and Henry the swan with their babies. The goose was shifted to the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust after he became blind and couldn't cope at his home at a Waikanae Estuary. He was well known for his love affair with Henry

Henry died in 2009 and Thomas, with failing eyesight, was rehomed to the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust in 2013, where he spent his final years eating corn and raising orphaned cygnets.

A headstone would be added to the grave to mark Thomas' life. He was believed to be 38 when he died.