The Goosander…

is a remarkable bird. We have several couples on the Wye, and then out of breeding season, we can have as many as a dozen in the winter in feeding groups. They are made more remarkable as they feed on fish and have teeth. Bigger than a Mallard, but not as big as a goose, Canada or otherwise, they have lovely plumage and brighten up the river no end.

In this video, the mother is shepherding her young very responsibly, keeping an eye one them and keeping them within reach. Watch the river at the top of the picture and you will see she has twelve or so, but then she realises she is not as good as she thinks, and goes back to retrieve two more – fourteen in total!

Courtesy of the Scottish Wildlife Trust – “After the breeding period almost all males disappear. It was a mystery as to where they went for many years but it is now known that the males leave the females in late June and migrate to one specific fjord; Tanafjord in Norway where they undergo a full moult of their flight feathers which takes them around three months. They remain there until the freezing weather approaches and they then return back from late October onwards with larger numbers appearing back in December. The females stay in the country and moult here with the few males that remained.”…!