Red-breasted merganser

 

The red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) is one of only two species of sawbill duck (the other being the goosander) that breeds in the British Isles. The red-breasted merganser has a long history of residence in Scotland and Ireland. However, since about 1950 they have spread into England, breeding as far south as Derbyshire and also into Wales.

Red-breasted mergansers grow to around 23 inches (58 cm) in length. Adult males have dark green heads and reddish-brown breasts and necks. The head has a double crest. Females are brown on the head and neck, the colouring merging into the breast. Their white wing patches are most noticeable in flight.

Flight is fast and direct, with the neck and body outstretched to produce a long, narrow shape.

The term ‘sawbill’ refers to the finely serrated cutting edges on the bills that enable red-breasted mergansers to grasp slippery fish. When fishing, they often swim with the head under water before diving to catch their prey.

Red-breasted mergansers have suffered persecution in the past due to their liking for young trout and salmon. However, they also eat species including eels, perch and pike which prey on the eggs and young of salmon and trout.

The nest is a shallow depression in the ground, lined with grass, leaves and down, that is sited near a river or lake and often in thick vegetation which makes it difficult for a predator to find. From late April to early July the female lays and incubates 8 to 10 eggs that take a month to hatch. When she leaves the nest to feed, she camouflages the eggs with down. When hatched, the ducklings are attended to by the female on her own. They can fly around two months after they hatch. Only one brood is reared each year.

© John Welford

Meadow saxifrage

 

Meadow saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata) grows in non-acidic well-drained soils, mainly in the eastern parts of the United Kingdom such as the Breckland area of Norfolk. It used to be more widespread in meadows throughout much of Britain, but the uprooting of hedges has been a major element in its decline.

Meadow saxifrage grows up to 20 inches (50 cm) in height, each plant having a single stem that is straight and hairy until it branches near the top. It has long-stalked, kidney-shaped leaves that are hairy and toothed or lobed. Leaves that encircle the base may wither when the flowers appear. The flowers, which appear between April and June, have narrow white petals with green veins. When ripe, the fruit splits open at the top to release the seeds. Tiny bulbs form where the stalks of the lower leaves join the stem. These bulbs are the means by which the plant perpetuates itself.

The word saxifrage means ‘stone-breaking’, and it is possible that this name was originally given to the plant by the Romans because they found it growing in crevices of rocks and wrongly assumed that it had been responsible for breaking those rocks apart.

However, according to Pliny the Elder, the plant was given the name because it had the medicinal power of breaking up gallstones in the bile duct. This idea almost certainly came from the ancient belief that plants with powers to cure disease display a sign to indicate how they should be used. It was therefore ‘obvious’ that a plant that grew stone-like brown bulbs around the base of its stem was intended to dissolve small stones in the body.

© John Welford