Cormorant

A cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo, at Kinghorn Loch.

In the foreground, there is a black-headed gull still in winter plumage.

They are perching on the floats of a platform that carries barley straw.  The straw is replaced anually and has been successful in reducing algal blooms and clarifying the water.  Swans and other birds have been known to nest there too.

A second capture, taken two minutes earlier, of the same cormorant from a different angle is in the 'Extras'.