A brace of Grey Partridge fly up from the edge of the Causey Stone path. Partridge rely on a bit of rough land being left in today's busy landscapes.
A pair of Coot are setting up a territory on the canal. They have the place to themselves, which is just as well since coot disputes involve more than mere bluff and can lead to serious injury. It has been known for coot parents to turn nasty and kill their own offspring, a practice difficult to explain in terms of evolution, unless they are selecting the weakest of the brood.
The water in the canal is on the cusp of freezing. As soon as we approach the section sheltered by embankment and trees we come to a thin crust of ice. This continues until we round a corner where the breeze has blown a wedge of water clear and jumbled slithers of ice along the edge of the wafer-thin flow. Methane bubbles the size of soft mints have been trapped in the ice as it formed.
Mallards are loafing, as usual, on an out of the way riffled stretch of the river, resting and preening on a sand bar by a lost gas cylinder. And yes it does remind me of the Larsen cartoon of the duck meeting a ship-wrecked desert island castaway; "So Professor Jenkins!...My old nemesis!...We meet again, but this time the advantage is mine! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
The Grey Wagtail flits and bobs its tail as it deftly investigates one of its favourite habitats, a rosemary tiled roof.
Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail;'richard@daelnet.co.uk'
