Spring Show-offs

How can you tell when spring is on the way? Well, one reliable sign is when goldeneye Bucephala clangula perform their ridiculous courtship ritual. We came across this small flotilla strutting their stuff this afternoon, on the Tyne between Newburn and Wylam. They were on the far side of the river and the dalight had almost gone but you can still discern the key moves that a male goldeneye needs to make if he wants to pull...

The drake third from left above is attempting to perform the classic display - head stretched right back to rest on his tail, staring at the sky. He's clearly a beginner at this game, because the gaze of the two unimpressed girls on the right is  directed elsewhere... 

... so this drake is showing how it should be done. First, stretch your neck until your vertebrae feel like they are coming apart and stare at the sky then....

...puff your chest out and hurl your head back until it's almost up your bum. Note that he has the rapt attention of the two ducks, while his rivals are left trailing in his wake

.. and in a fit of pique one kicks water in his face.

I really like these ducks, not least because of the sound their wings make when they're in flight...they sing as they scythe through the air and you can hear them coming from a long way off.