The common cormorant (or shag)

Just about the first thing I saw when I got off the bus in Cardigan was this splendid bird on the edge of the tidal river Teifi that runs through the town. I took about 20 shots of it, getting closer and closer after I climbed down the bank and slithered over the estuarine mud. I've great difficulty deciding whether to blip one of these close up shots or the larger view that shows the castle, the church and the old cottage hospital on the opposite side of the river. Where I am standing, on the south bank, there was once the railway station.

The feathers of the cormorant (or shag - the names are interchangeable over a large number of species worldwide) lack the oily waterproofing that other aquatic birds possess and it is thus forced to hold its wings out to dry like this, often for long periods of time. It was still there two hours later.

The common cormorant (or shag)
Lays eggs inside a paper bag,
The reason you will see no doubt,
Is to keep the lightning out.

But what these unobservant birds
Have failed to notice is that herds
Of wandering bears may come with buns
And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.

A nonsense rhyme by Christopher Isherwood - don't believe a word of it.

(See the bird bigger for more detail of its feathers and its eye.)