Eclipse

I went to have a look at Pennington Flash this morning.

It wasn’t too busy. August is a transitional month, it’s summer but moving towards autumn. So the kids are off school, parents keeping them busy (the kiddies funfair was doing a good job)., But the birds stopped singing some weeks ago, and everything is going to seed. Everywhere looked very damp after all the recent rain.

And the ducks are in their eclipse plumage. At this time of year they lose the ability to fly as they are in full moult. They need to regrow flight feathers. Drake mallards lose their bottle green heads - but the blue speculum here is a giveaway that this is a male.,