Cormorants

This morning when I was taking the dogs for a walk, I saw three cormorants on the River Eden.  They had obviously been fishing (no doubt to the disgust of both the riparian owners and local fishermen) as two of them were drying their wings. With that “spread-wing posture”, they looked like a couple of Macbeth’s witches in ragged black cloaks! Apparently the structure of cormorant feathers decreases buoyancy enabling them to pursue fish underwater for considerable distances. And, although only the outer portion of their feathers is wettable, their plumage does retain water, hence the scary, washing line effect