Wild Wednesday - Cormorant
The cormorant is a large, shiny black water bird, with a white patch on its thigh - its size and colour make them easy to recognise, with an almost prehistoric look about them.
These birds can be seen from January to December in and around the coast on lakes, reservoirs, and rivers inland.
Cormorants feed on fish, which they catch with their long, hook-tipped bills while swimming underwater. Some are known to dive as deep as 45 metres, swimming quickly, using their webbed feet to propel them and their wings to steer - they actually use less energy swimming than when they fly.
They nest on low cliffs around the coasts, or in colonies in trees near lakes and flooded gravel pits. They are often spotted perched on a rock or bank with their wings held out – if seen like this, they are drying their feathers off, which are not waterproof.
Cormorants and shags look very similar, but a shag is smaller and has dark green, shiny plumage, a crest of feathers on its head with a narrower bill which is a yellow when open.
Read more here: Cormorant | The Wildlife Trusts