Tufted Ducks

Back on canal patrol today I spotted a little cluster of tufted ducks - the first this autumn. The adult males are black except for white flanks and blue-grey bills. The females are brown with paler flanks - I didn't see any. Tufted ducks are mostly migratory and overwinter in the milder south and west of Europe and in southern Asia. The mirror-like quality of the water with sunshine and blue skies overhead, and little wind, created magical reflections of the canal-side houses. It looked as if light was shimmering down from their little white flanks -an illusion but lovely!