In the spotlight

Goosander (Mergus merganser)

There they go, bobbing along, riding the pewter waters of river and reservoir, hardly visible due to their own grey backs, although the clearly defined chestnut-brown head reveals female and not-yet-adult goosanders at large. The drake shows more contrast and, in breeding plumage, he’s a magnificent thing, white in body, with black along the back and what appears to be an all-black head—but, on closer inspection, it has a fetchingly deep-green iridescence. Goosander bills are long, reddish and sharp-looking, with a down-turned tip. They conceal backward-leaning, serrated teeth—all the better to catch and hang onto the fish and other prey the bird finds when hunting at speed underwater.

These diving ducks are a modern-day success story. Although they were hunted in great numbers in the past, their UK population is burgeoning and is added to when migrants sojourn here to see out the winter. Nesting takes place in a suitable tree cavity and perhaps a dozen or more hatched chicks will take a leap of faith and follow mother to the nearest stretch of water.