Teal

 

The teal (Anas crecca) is Britain’s smallest duck. It is widespread throughout the country but thinly distributed. The resident population is increased by passage birds in spring and autumn and by a large migrant population from northern Europe in winter.

It has a grey back, speckled brown chest and white underparts. Male teals have chestnut heads and distinctive green eye patches and black and yellow under-tail feathers. Both male and female teals have black and green wing patches.

Teals grow to 14 inches (36 cm) in length.

Teals fly quickly and with rapid wing beats, giving the impression of great haste. They often fly in tightly packed irregular groups. They are very agile and will spring vertically into the air when alarmed.

Teal drakes have a distinctive musical, bell-like call.

They are typical dabbling ducks, feeding on the surface while swimming or walking in the shallows, sifting seeds of water and marsh plants from the water with a nibbling action of the bill. They may occasionally upend in deeper water to reach below the surface.

The teal nest is hidden in deep cover with every effort made to avoid drawing attention to it. The conspicuous male bird therefore never visits the nest and the female only does so after ensuring that she has not been observed. Teal ducklings rarely venture into open water.

© John Welford

Biting stonecrop

 

Biting stonecrop (Sedum acre) is a low-growing succulent plant that grows throughout Great Britain on chalk and limestone grassland, shingle, dunes and walls. It is the smallest of the British yellow stonecrops, forming a golden yellow carpet of star-like flowers during the summer.

The plant’s numerous creeping stems form mats, from which upright flowering and non-flowering stems grow to a height of up to 4 inches (10 cm). The leaves are fleshy and swollen, the young ones tipped with crimson. Bright yellow flowers, which appear in June and July, grow in branched clusters. Fruits, yellowish when young, spread apart and turn brown.

Biting stonecrop has the alternative name of wall-pepper, from its peppery-tasting leaves. The plant was once considered an excellent medicine for the cure of various ailments. It was believed to stop bleeding, ease ulcers and prevent fevers. However, it had to be used with care because its juice could induce vomiting.

There was even a superstition that if biting stonecrop was planted on the roofs of houses it would ward off thunderstorms!

© John Welford

Wigeon

 

The wigeon (Anas penelope) is a duck that is present all the year round throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland but it only breeds in northern Scotland and the Northern Pennines of England. The main breeding area of the species is a wide Arctic and sub-Arctic belt that includes Iceland and Norway.

It measures up to 18 inches (48 cm) in length.

Male wigeons have a grey back and sides, chestnut head and chest with a pale crown, white underparts, and dark grey wings with white shoulders and green wing patches.

Females are more uniformly brown.

Wigeons fly in formations of hundreds, forming irregular lines, when moving along estuaries or mud-flats.

Male birds make a loud and musical whee-oo sound, whereas females emit a purring growl.

The typical habitat of wigeons is fresh water that is shallow and still, although they also nest by rivers and on coastal marshlands. When available, islands are often chosen for breeding as they afford protection against predatory mammals.

They are somewhat unusual among ducks in that they often graze on grass like geese, although they also feed in water and occasionally up-end in more conventional duck fashion.

The nest is a shallow hollow, lined with leaves, grass and down and sited on the ground beneath overhanging tussocks or shrubs. 7 to 9 eggs are incubated by the duck for 3 to 3 ½ weeks.

© John Welford

Orpine

 

Orpine (Sedum telephium) is a succulent plant found in woods and hedges in most parts of Britain. Its flowers bring a rose-red flush to many woodlands in late summer and early autumn.

The stems and leaves of orpine store water, enabling it to survive prolonged drought and withstand being picked. This power of resistance is illustrated by an old country custom by which a girl who wanted to get married would hang a pair of orpine stems side-by-side in her house. If they grew together she would be happy with her chosen husband, but if they grew apart the outlook was bleak. If one of the stems withered quickly – which was unlikely – a death was in prospect.

Orpine also appears to have worked as a fly repellent!

Orpine grows to a height of 8-24 inches (20-60 cm). The clusters of upright, unbranched stems are often reddish. The pale green leaves, which are fleshy, alternate up the stem. The flowers, which appear from July to September, are rosy-red and are borne on long stalks in globe-shaped heads. The fruit is purple and does not spread out when ripe.

The name derives from ‘orpiment’, an Old French name for ‘a golden pigment’, although orpine has no gold about it. The name was originally given to a yellow-flowered plant of the same genus, but after translation was given to a plant that was wrongly believed to be the same species.

© John Welford

Canada goose

 

The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is a large bird, measuring 36-40 inches (90-100 cm) in length. It is easily recognised from its black head and neck, and white chin-patch. The sexes are alike. Juvenile birds have duller chin-patches and more mottled upper parts than adults, but plumage from the first winter resembles that of adults.

In flight, it is distinctive from its long neck and deep wing-beats.

Despite their size, Canada geese can be unobtrusive when resting or feeding. However, when alarmed one member of a flock may emit a trumpet-like honking that is copied by all the other geese that then take wing, continuing to call as they make for a neighbouring stretch of water.

The nest is a hollow in the ground lined with leaves, grass and down. This is usually at the water’s edge or on an island in a lake. Five or six creamy-white eggs are laid in April or May. The goslings can fly after nine weeks, but the family unit stays together until the following spring.

Canada geese are present throughout the year in almost the whole of England except for Cornwall. They are also seen much less frequently in Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

The first Canada geese were brought across the Atlantic in the 17^th century as decorative birds for lakes in the grounds of large houses. It was later thought that they would make good subjects for wildfowl shooting, but the bird’s attraction as a sporting target was severely lessened by its tameness and habit of flying too low. This is probably why the Canada goose has become as common a wild breeding bird as it now is.

© John Welford