Double-crested Cormorant – Charlton’s Pond, Billingham, Cleveland, 25^th February 1989

My attempt to capture the Double-crested Cormorant, and a winter's day on Tees-side, in all its technicolour glory..... .

Well, at least I can truthfully say that I had good views of this one! But not until it had caused me great trauma...... . I had arrived way after it normally did. Every day since its first appearance it had appeared between 08:30 and 10:00, apart from one day when it never appeared at all. Was this to be the second such day? Having driven all the way there from St. Albans(?), to such a desolate place, a ‘sanctuary’ amongst chemical, industrial, residential Billingham, which contained nothing but Mute Swan, Mallard and Coot was a mite dispiriting, to say the least. And the cold was sufficient to freeze the...... .

Dejected, not to say pissed off, I, like several others, drifted away, to find something to eat. My humour was not improved by my visit to a somewhat dubious chippy. Was there some hope in the story about its arrival being determined by the weather conditions? Or had it frozen to death?

But what was this? On my return the cars were empty. More to the point, as I rushed across the railway bridge there were more birders than before, and ‘scopes and binos were actually being used! The answer was, “Yes”. It had flown in just about 5 minutes after I had left.

At first it was out of sight behind the reedmace. But at least it was there. Soon it emerged – swimming anhinga-like. It moved quickly around the pond, constantly diving as it searched for fish. It swam very low in the water unlike a (Great) Cormorant. It was, however, superficially like a Cormorant, apart from the bill. This was a complicated affair, reaching beyond the eye. The basal areas, in particular, were bright orange-yellow merging into green brown towards the hooked tip. The eye had a warm brown iris. The whole effect gave an expression reminiscent of a Gannet. Eventually, having trawled the fringing shallows, even tangling itself up in overhanging willows, it caught something. It then made its way to the wooden island, flapped and preened, before ‘flying’ onto the island and standing with its wings outstretched, Cormorant-like..... .

Double-crested Cormorant, Charlton's Pond, Billingham, Cleveland, February 1989 (photograph courtesy of  Dave Cotteridge)