Come and see the World open itself

“Mr Dockray has found them in Autumn crammed with blackberries which they had doubtless gathered on the edges of ponds and ditches”
British Birds, TA Coward, series 2, pg 47, Warne & Co, London, 1920.

We feed a lot, we ducks, we sleep a lot, we ducks
But, we are not ‘ducks’ but Wigeon.

We are waiting for those who who say “Duck!”,
who say “Mallard”, to look
at our round heads, soft faces and blue-grey fine duckish beaks
we, with our whistles and our flocks cropping grass,
are waiting to be distinguished, seen.

We are waiting for March to wing in moonlight
across the Dogger sea back to our summer ponds and rivers
where we are known as markers of spring
pond possessors of March
whistlers by day and dark
yellow-crowned hope of midsummer
haapana

(haapana is Finnish for Widgeon)

-Dave Garbutt