Asleep, head tucked beneath his wing, the duck flicked one eye open from time to time, checking the skies for danger. When that came, in the shape of a low-flying peregrine, he and the rest of the flock hardly reacted. Perhaps they knew the falcon was not in hunting mode – or maybe they are so used to raptors nowadays they simply no longer bother to respond.
Moments later, he awoke, revealing his full splendour. A drake pintail (Anas acuta), the epitome of elegance, showing off his chocolate-brown head, clotted-cream belly, dove-grey flanks and the long, pointed tail that gives the bird its name.
There were at least a dozen pintails on the lagoon at Catcott Lows, a Somerset Wildlife Trust reserve. They were accompanied by other “dabbling ducks”: teal, shoveler, gadwall and hundreds of wigeon, sleeping or feeding right in front of the hide.
Visiting birders tend to ignore these ducks, in favour of more exotic species such as egrets and cranes. Yet if you take time to peer through a telescope, you’ll notice astonishing colours and markings. The vermiculation – wavy black stripes – of the gadwall, the purplish-green sheen on the shoveler’s head, and, best of all, the blue-green eye-patch of the teal – the only British bird to lend its name to a colour.
And the pintail – now awake and feeding – surely the most striking of all.
