OOooOOh

The Frankie Howard of the duck world, in terms of the sound the drakes make as they attempt to court the females.

Eiders have to be my favourite duck. Sea ducks, the last time we saw them “in the wild” was last year in Northumberland. The drakes are beautifully plumaged, the females have lovely cryptic camouflage (we almost trod on one on its nest next to a path), and their strange calls sound almost human, in a 1970’s comedian kind of way.

On the wilder side, large flocks of lapwing (extra) were disturbed by a marsh harrier.. I could have practiced my newly learnt skill of counting flocks of birds (an online course earlier this week). But lapwing are tricky, I was taken unawares ..... so maybe next time.