Saturday, 11 January 2014

Ducks on the new lake

I wrote previously of the new lake that has formed. The bed of a stream has collapsed causing the water to flow into a deserted sand quarry forming a large and deep lake where none previously existed.
Today I witnessed a small flotilla of pochard swimming on the lake. If there are any fish there, which could only have come from the stream, there would not be many and so, I presume the duck were there simply because it is in such an out of the way location as to provide them with the seclusion they prefer.
I look forward with great anticipation to how this scenario develops.
I used to watch redpolls on the alders beside the river Usk when I lived in that part of Wales. They proved to be very confiding birds, often feeding in the trees just a few feet above my head. I have not seen any of these little finches locally this winter until yesterday. Previously I have seen them once again feeding on the alders alongside the stream down by the village green; in this instance however, they were high in the branches of birch trees in the grounds of the local health centre. I cannot imagine a setting further removed from the tranquil setting of the Usk in winter.

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