Dabbling Wild West Yorkshire nature diary Thursday 5th August 1999

THE LAKE at Waterton Park, seen from Walton Hall on the island, looks peaceful, reflecting the surrounding green foliage, this morning. And the hotel makes an excellent cup of coffee, I can recommend it. If only all bird-watching offered such standards of comfort.

A Heron stands and preens on one of the fishing platforms at the edge of the wood. I see what looks like an adult Tufted Duck surrounded by seven young. But all the 'young' suddenly dive and I realise it is a Great Crested Grebe surrounded by 'tufties'.

Ducks may be diving but the Canada Geese are dabbling, they seem rather large birds to upend in this fashion. A couple of Ruddy Ducks keep their heads tucked under their wings, as if they wish to remain incognito, but stand out a obviously as undercover CIA agents on a stake-out in a 1970s movie.

Back in the local wood, Magpies call from the tops of the oaks. They're not that common in the immediate area as they are shot in some numbers because, with some justification, they are seen as a threat to the Pheasant stocks. I'm sure the pheasants are very grateful that they are spared predation by this rather unpopular corvid. Whether they're equally pleased to be pounded out of the skies by a battery of shot guns is a more doubtful question.

I've rather missed the antics of the Magpies recently, though I'd have hated it if one had taken 'our' brood of Robins.

I'm just starting a major project illustrating dinosaurs in action. Birds are apparently closely related to certain dinosaurs. These magpies certainly give me an impression of how dinosaurs might have behaved - very badly most of the time, I'm sure. They are constantly calling to each other in a modulated and anxious fashion. As if life is a game of getting one up on a neighbour. The glint in the eye, the way they cock their head on one side to take a look at you, and the long blue-green tail complete the illusion. There were actually some dinosaurs that were small enough to have spent a part of their lives up in the trees.

Two small creatures cross the path; in the wood near the stream a tiny Toad hops away (there has been another shower of rain). And on the lane, the first Earwig we've seen walks across with the motion of a luggage trolley crossing a concourse. Its pincers, raised as a threat to us, give it too a prehistoric look.

Richard Bell, wildlife illustrator E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'    Next day   Previous day   Nature Diary   Wild West Yorkshire home page