Tufted Ducks

I just love these little guys. They play in wee gangs on the water round the margins of the loch. They are a protected species on Loch Leven because it is a prime breeding site for them.

"There’s a tufted duck on David’s lake
With her sootfall of hatchlings, pompoms
A day old and already learning to dive.
We may meet the stoat near the erratic
Boulder, a shrew in his mouth, or the merlin
Meadow-pipit-hunting. But don’t be afraid.
The leveret breakfasts under the fuchsia
Every morning, and we shall be watching.
I have picked wild flowers for you, scabious
And centaury in a jam-jar of water
That will bend and magnify the daylight.
This is your first night in Carrigskeewaun."

Extract from The Leveret, by Michael Longley. 2004