Tuesday 18th January (Good News and Bad News)

Mr. Kite looked out of his east facing bedroom window to see the sun rising over the Wrekin in a clear blue sky. Today he would be saying 'good bye' to a young Chinese trainee hotelier who was returning east to China; that is the bad news. Every cloud has a silver lining and one less China man in England makes a English duck's life safer as Peking Duck is a favourite in a Chinese restaurant. To dogs and mules Mr. Kite can only say that he has never seen them on the menu in a Chinese restaurant in England so provided their owners don't take them to China they should be safe. But they are on the menu in the Chinese city of Harbin.


After the farewells Mr. Kite cycled to the Monkmoor Lagoon where only a pochard and shoveler sat on the water. These two birds were very attractive in the sunshine. A grey heron then appeared from the reed bed and waded slowly through the water with it's head stretched forward. Against the golden reeds the grey feathers on it's body looked coarse and in good condition. It's long s-shaped white neck had a black pattern on the front with a small white plume hanging down. The heron kept it's head still showing a clear yellow eye, a black stripe on the head, a long sharp yellow dagger shaped beak and a black plume flowing from the back of the head.

Today this bird looked like a hunter; the plumes hanging down, the slow measured gait, the intense gaze into the reeds and the dagger shaped beak opening and closing. Then the heron showed patience and stealth as it walked slowly in the water stopping at times to look intently at something. Standing motionless it watched and waited and then moved on surreptitiously until it stood motionless again. This time the legs and body remained unmoved as it withdrew it's head slowly like a the string on a bow being pulled back and primed ready to fire it's weapon. The weapon here was the heron's dagger shaped beak and in a flash it shot forward into the water and then retreated with a silver roach wriggling with it's head protruding one side and it's tail the other. A few short sharp movements of the heron's head and the unfortunate roach slid down the heron gullet. The heron raised it's head, opened it's mouth and then sipped some lagoon water to wash the fish down and then shook his head sharply to dispel unwanted fragments of fish and water. Yum.

Now Mr. Kite wrote about Peking Duck early on; this is not a species of duck but a dish served and eaten in China. Just after the heron had consumed 'lagoon roach' a spring of teals landed on the water followed by six shoveler. Mr. Kite thought to himself how much easier it is to be a duck rather than a heron. The heron has to stalk and hunt his food and be patient whilst the teals landed on the water and were soon grazing on roots, shoots and other morsels on the grassy bank. The shovelers just land on the water and then start filtering the plankton from the pool.

Although it was now late afternoon it must have been feeding time. With the teals grazing, the shovelers filtering and the heron scoffing the odd gudgeon it must have stimulated the appetite of a sparrowhawk. From out of the trees a fluttering hawk appeared and sat on a branch watching the banquet. This adult male had a blue-grey back and a white front with reddish-brown horizontal stripes. The only part that moved was it's head as it scoured the reed bed for something to surprise and eat. Very few small birds were flying so the unfortunate hawk was unable to swoop down and join the banquet. But Mr. Kite did notice that flapping teals did attract it's attention; duck might be on the menu in Peking but is not suitable for a hawk in Monkmoor Lagoon. In life there are winners and losers. Today the duck was the winner whilst gudgeon, roach and a hungry hawk were the losers.

Now Mr. Kite is often a winner and today was not an exception. A slightly emotional morning, an entertaining afternoon watching feeding birds followed by an evening of drinking Tetley tea.
Bon Appetite.