Fish supper
Have just been reminded - by Radio 4's The News Quiz of all things - of an amazing sight we saw on Sunday afternoon. We were walking home and crossing the river the way we usually do. As has been the case for the last 7 or so winters, two juvenile cormorants have taken up winter quarters on these lower reaches of the Lee (all a bit industrial for birdlife outside of gulls normally). BB was intrigued by them and we pointed them out to DD but every time she looked the bird had dived. Suddenly though it popped up with a fish in its beak. Now I have never seen this so closely before (other than on the telly). It was less than ten yards away and I was half trying to tune into David Attenborough's commentary in my mind. It wasn't any old grey mullet though but a nice little plaice. I was close enough to see the spots on its scales quite clearly. It was fascinating to see the cormorant tossing its head back and, with some effort, knocking back the wriggling fish. their skin, especially round the beak, is astonishingly stretchy! It was rather ooky though to realise that, plaice being a flatfish, the bird's neck was going to stay stretched into an odd, spoon-like shape until the crop could do its work. It think the birds felt a little self conscious afterwards because the pair flew off upriver, possibly to have some peace for digestion.