Red-breasted merganser windswept Wild horses on the incoming tide at Morecambe Bay. A rough wind and a louring sky send patterns of sunlight and shadow racing over the water. We hear woodland birds but it’s too cold, too wild to go bare-headed around Jenny Brown’s Point. Out on the water there are wild waves and not a bird in sight.
As we walk the embankment at Quaker’s Stang a flock of lapwing takes to the air. There are starling and a flock of greylag geese on the salt marsh pastures.
As we walk the embankment at Quaker’s Stang a flock of lapwing takes to the air. There are starling and a flock of greylag geese on the salt marsh pastures.
At Allen Hide, a flight of lapwing comes down on the salt marsh. Water birds hunker down, sheltering beneath the bank: redshank, teal and widgeon. Grey lag geese fly in and settle on the water which reflects the colours of the sky, like beaten pewter.
Outside the Morecambe Hide, Jew’s ear fungus grows on elder. We hear the call of redshank, the whistle of widgeon and silhouettes of birds show on water resembling molten metal.
Outside the Morecambe Hide, Jew’s ear fungus grows on elder. We hear the call of redshank, the whistle of widgeon and silhouettes of birds show on water resembling molten metal.
The tide is on the ebb as we return over the salt marsh and we hear curlew and redshank. Something in the dive alerts me, a slim bird rising from the water then a slick dive. Three red breasted merganser show, wild and windswept. Panache in tatters, wispy feathers stick up startled and punk-like on a blustery day.
Red-breasted merganser is a diving duck, a sawbill catching small fish with its thin serrated bill. Surfacing from a dive, a bird has a drop of water on its bill. It’s a while since I’ve seen red-breasted merganser and I long to see them spot-lit, their eyes like rubies. They're a rare treat, even in silhouette. Formal portraits are more composed. Our merganser are the mood music of the day, elemental as they swim out into molten pewter amidst the call of redshank.
In autumn, red-breasted merganser gather in large flocks and Morecambe Bay is one of their overwintering locations. I’m hoping to make a date to see a sunlit flock.
Red-breasted merganser is a diving duck, a sawbill catching small fish with its thin serrated bill. Surfacing from a dive, a bird has a drop of water on its bill. It’s a while since I’ve seen red-breasted merganser and I long to see them spot-lit, their eyes like rubies. They're a rare treat, even in silhouette. Formal portraits are more composed. Our merganser are the mood music of the day, elemental as they swim out into molten pewter amidst the call of redshank.
In autumn, red-breasted merganser gather in large flocks and Morecambe Bay is one of their overwintering locations. I’m hoping to make a date to see a sunlit flock.
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