Walking Dillie mean I do get to see what is happening on the Meadows and by the River.
However, we have not walked on the Meadows or by the River much over the last three months. It has been very wet under foot and very muddy and slippy.
In consequence we have not observed what has been happening down there, so I was surprised when we finally ventured that way to find eight Goosanders on the Onny. In the past I have seen three but no more.
They can live for seven years, so it maybe that they are bringing family to the Onny.
The Goosander is an attractive bird. The males have dark green heads, with black backs and long red serrated bills. The females have gingerly reddish brown heads. They are long, slender birds streamlined for diving to catch fish to eat.
They nest on river banks and often form large groups as they like company. They were primary found in the north and west but are becoming more common in the the South West.
Look out for Goosanders on the River Onny, they are often found in the company of Mallard Ducks.
The image used in the header of this blog post is from Wikipedia and shows a male Common Merganser (also called Goosander in Europe) in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. The image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
