Musseling in Wild West Yorkshire Nature Diary, Thursday 3rd February 2000

On a small scale, it's the kind of wild wetland scene that is popular as a setting in American wildlife art.

A Heron stands motionless, up to the tops of its legs in water, by a clump of reeds.

A male Great-crested Grebe calls; a kind of urgent, peevish grunt. It's not a sound that I'd associate with waterfowl. The male is the one with the long crests and the larger cheek ruffs. The female joins him and they greet each other in a head-shaking display, their heads turning from side to side, rather than up and down. Then they dive briefly and swim along beside each other, preening in what seems a slightly ritualised fashion.

We also hear a Mute Swan give a grunting call. As the name suggests, this species isn't know for its vocalisations.

A group of thirty Tufted Ducks are diving near the north-east shore of the lake. They're coming up with small Freshwater Mussels, each about the size of a nut. They turn them in their bills, sometimes with a clacking sound, like castanets. Some ducks then swallow the mussel shell and all. Others shake it until the shell becomes detached.

Three Black-headed Gulls are on the look-out for easy pickings. They look out for a duck emerging with a mussel in its bill then pester it until it drops its catch. But once the gulls get hold of a mussel they don't seem as adept as the ducks at swallowing it. On two attempts it appears as if the gulls drop the stolen prey in the water.

A lakeside Crack Willow has been blown over in the recent gales. It's shallow roots have lifted a circle of the bank. The rootlets are black, hanging like shaggy wiry fur.

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'