Natural Selection

Yesterday I was leading a ramble for Fylde Coast Ramblers out of Coniston and round Tarn Hows. The rain was biblical. I will return to that later but first a couple of points about the visit last week for the reccy.

Near the Coniston Inn there was a flock of Greylags and Canada Geese. Checking through them there was a Pinkfoot. When such birds can’t fly it’s fair to assume they’ve been put down by wildfowlers having been shot. When they can fly it’s interesting to speculate on whether they’re wild birds or not.

Pinkfoot to the left of a Greylag, rear end of Canada front of shot

The other thing of note was the number of Goldeneye. There were flocks on both Coniston (thirteen) and Tarn Hows (eight). Yesterday I didn’t see a single one. Coniston is certainly big enough for some to be hiding somewhere, but Tarn Hows isn’t. It would seem that over the intervening week most of them have headed north to breed.

After today’s drenching the weather cleared a little bit so rather than go for a coffee or beer I walked back down to the lake to look for some birds. Among a group of Mallard was an ‘intersex’ bird. This is essentially a (usually elderly) female Mallard with hormone imbalance that begins to resemble a drake. The female bill colour remains a giveaway.

Intersex Mallard front, compare bill pattern with ‘real’ male behind

There were a pair of swans in the vicinity. The cob is picture at the top of the blog. I read his ring and it was 4ALC. Steve Christmas was as helpful as ever when I contacted him, and quickly informed it had been ringed on site at Waterhead on 24 October 2013. Given he was an adult when caught he must be at least 14 years old, a reasonable age.

Nothing earth shattering perhaps, but a reminder that even a little time spent looking closely at familiar wildlife can throw up things of interest.