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Gathering for winter: shovellers

Gathering for winter: shovellers

West Park lake serves as a refuge for wildfowl which spend the warmer months dispersed elsewhere. The sizes of the goose and swan flocks increase, but most noticeable are the ducks. A handful of tufties usually hang around all year, but in winter the numbers increase perhaps tenfold. Shovellers are off in the spring, and turn up again come autumn.

When I took these shots in mid-October, the birds were just coming out of eclipse, having lost their breeding plumage but not yet completely achieved its winter replacement. Most noticeable in the males.