Welsh Journals

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PENRICE HERONR Y photograph by Carl Stockton To conclude, I must tell you about the Eider Duck. To us it is an enigma and because it presents such a source of original study, the Gower Ornithological Society has adopted it as its emblem. The Eider (Somerteria mollissima) is a strongly maritime duck breeding along the coast. In the British Isles it breeds principally in Scotland. It breeds in the Fame Islands, there is a small colony in Northern Ireland and it nests in Brittany as well. What, you may ask, has all this got to do with Gower ? Normally Eiders leave their breeding grounds after they have brought off their young-and in any case the males often leave even before the eggs are hatched. It is therefore a wise Eider who knows its own father A curious point about this behaviour pattern is that in the Burry Estuary both male and female Eiders are present all-the-year-round we have taken careful counts of birds month-by-month. Once at high tide, when hidden from sight, I heard the male's display or mating-call. It was a loud moaning coo-roo-uh." After the normal breeding season we regularly record these birds in their moult or eclipse plumage, but in Spring they have their full breeding plumage. These birds have been seen in the Burry Estuary since 1900 and yet there has never been one single report of their breeding in Gower. Isn't that strange ? Gower is so full of interest. Do come soon.