Hugh Creasy's Column September 2020

There had been a fresh fall of snow on the tops, and the water was cold. A pair of mallards escorted their little ones away from danger – not from any human presence, but from a cruising harrier that made attack runs at the family, trying to break them up. Harriers are not courageous predators. They much prefer a ready-made meal – road kill or small rodents that do not have the benefit of protective parents of considerable size. The duck and drake were doing a pretty good job getting their young to the river, where they scuttled into the water, one by one, though a tardy youngster unaware of its potentially fatal hesitation, stopped to nibble a leaf of mint. The harrier dipped in flight, ready to stoop, drawing a sharp quack from the mother duck and the youngster plopped into the water.
The harrier had young of its own, safe in a nest in a patch of riverside raupo. They were a well-fed pair, thinly feathered over a coat of grey down. It would be a few weeks before the oldest fledged and the harrier parents kept a steady supply of insects and small animals coming to the nest. It would seem to be a waste of energy to pursue a resistant prey, when the road a few hundred metres away, was continually scattered with dead animals, and the nearby paddocks were scattered with lambs. In any flock of sheep there were bound to be victims of chill winds. Mammalian births are fraught with danger and the corpse of a cast ewe provides a long-term feast for carrion eaters, so why chase a little bundle of down that would give up a tiny shred of protein if taken to the nest?
Perhaps the riverside surroundings had produced so much food that the harrier had leisure time to spare.
Its own young consisted of an heir and a spare. The spare, would gradually lose condition as the larger of the two feasted and grew, until the day of its first flight, when the younger was either dead of starvation, or took on an unsteady flight that bode badly for its survival.
Prince Harry is not alone in the cut-throat game of sibling rivalry.
Ducks rely on fecundity for survival. A mallard duck can lay up to 10 eggs in a nest. The duck must be decidedly uncomfortable in the spring, carrying all that weight, and oh, the relief when the nest is full and the uterus is empty. Survival rates are low, because ducks are stupid. Ducks are stupid because they spend very little time protected in a nest and there is not enough room in their heads for a decent-sized brain. The only way to overcome stupidity is to produce enormous numbers of young, which ducks do very well.
These were the musings of a frustrated angler, who arrived at the river only to find it discoloured with snow melt and unfishable. Observations of wildlife from a position of ignorance can come up with some peculiar ideas. For instance, we know that ducks, once they have finished bringing up their young, begin to moult, and to do so retire to sheltered places in swamps and woodland because they are too embarrassed to be seen in public. Forests full of bald ducks boggles the mind and it would be most unsporting to shoot these blighted birds when they are in a state of undress, which is why the duck-shooting season is so short.
Trout have their periods of disadvantage when the desire to procreate befuddles their already limited intelligence, and anglers must resist the temptation to drag them out of the water. They taste terrible because their passions cause them to lose weight. They neglect their food in favour of baser appetites and it’s only sporting to leave them in the water until they recover. They will taste much better after rest and recreation.
In the near future the sun will once again shine, the river will clear and there may be a period between spring and summer when the river’s bottom will be free of slime, giving good grip and inspiring confidence. The intrepid angler will ply his or her rod in sparkling, clear water and tempt fit and fat trout to come to the fly.
Trying to fish fast, dirty water is a dangerous business, unless you can do it from the bank. However, it may be that a spinner cast into pocket water behind boulders will pull a fish from an otherwise hopeless position. The angler although fishing blind, has an advantage in that neither can the fish see the angler.
The odds are even, and if there’s trout in the river the trip may not be wasted.
Categories
Archive
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- December 2013
- March 2013
- September 2012
- July 2012