Oh no – sorry. It’s not a T150-C SS ‘Goutte d’Eau’ – it’s a duck.
At Slimbridge today the birding was better than the photography, with contrasty light for much of the day making things tricky. But the first Bewick’s Swans of the winter have now arrived from Russia – an event that always makes me unnecessarily emotional, given that it isn’t me who has to fly several thousand miles under my own steam in potentially hostile conditions – and a flock of Russian White-fronted Geese have also turned up, including a dozen juveniles apparently under the care of just two adults. The geese took my bird list for the year to 149 species, which isn’t bad considering how little effort I put in to the project.
Best of the day, photo-wise were the resident Eiders on one of the collection ponds, which were displaying to each other and showing signs of pairing up, as many duck species will do in the winter, months before the breeding season begins. I don’t know if the Eiders here actually breed – despite looking like the kind of car you’d only ever get out of the garage to show your mates on the three most benign days of the year, these are hardy sea ducks, and their traditional breeding grounds in the UK are around the rocky coasts of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland, so as breeding territory a small pond in Gloucestershire feels improbable – but they’re certainly having fun at the moment thinking about it. My second photo shows a female, with the closest male attempting to hang on to pole position and keep her away from other potential suitors.
If you’re British, and you can listen to the noise of Eiders getting frisky without thinking of the late Frankie Howerd, you’re obviously a lot younger than me.
R: L2, C1, D14.
