I love winter mornings on our narrowboat when the bare trees outside my window look like fingers grasping at the air, and the sun, only just risen, scatters pale light over the canal and fields. Later in the day, the sun’s rays reflecting off the water will cover my cabin ceiling in rippling patterns.
This morning something completely unexpected happened. I woke up and looked out of my window and saw a cormorant in the canal. Now this isn’t very unusual because you see them on inland water quite often. It dived underwater and popped up again a few metres away, coal black and shining beautifully. Suddenly there was a flash of azure blue and orange, like the glow of a winter sunset, as a kingfisher whizzed by in hot pursuit of the cormorant, which flew up, up and away!
I think the kingfisher chased a bird so much bigger than itself because kingfishers are very territorial, especially in the winter when they need fish to survive. A group of cormorants is called a gulp. A gulp can decimate whole reservoirs of fish; one cormorant can eat about 500g of fish a day. They look so much like their dinosaur relatives with spiky sharp claws, ravenous mouths and wide scary eyes.
Later in the morning the kingfisher came back and perched on an overhanging bramble looking pleased. The greedy gulper hasn’t returned.
Tamlyn, 11
