Feeding Frenzy on the Sherborne Brook

This morning there was drama on the brook as I observed what I think might have been a feeding frenzy. I’m not an ornithologist so please correct me if you think what I saw was normal behaviour.

I have seen the occasional cormorant on the Brook. These are sea birds ( I think) who venture far inland to feed on the plentiful trout in the Sherborne Brook. I’ve seen them down around the Broadwater but this occurred in a narrow stretch just below Waterloo Bridge.

A cormorant engaged in a huge amount of noisy, splashing activity. It went like this:

• From the water, floating low, it launched itself into the air with some rapid beats of its wings, splashing furiously.
• It just got into the air, then dived beneath after about 10 feet.
• It then stayed underwater zig zagging swimming at a tremendous rate up and down the Brook, and from side to side, for about 20 seconds.
• It then surfaced and took breath before repeating the whole affair for five minutes - on at least 2 or 3 occasions it seemed to have caught a trout, silver in its mouth , threw back its head and swallowed it whole, then carried on.

What was remarkable was the amount of energy expended and the speed of the thing underwater. They aren’t the most attractive of birds, and to me they feel like an interloper, despite the fact they eat the same fish as Mr Heron.

Other matters:

1. Residents of Sherborne have just a few more days to fill in the Sherborne Parish Council verge survey - details are here.

2. This afternoon, I attended the Gloucestershire Local History Association meeting at the Gloucestershire archives - a useful organisation for the Brook Group to be associated with. Lots of useful resources and contacts and a very pertinent presentation on the history of Gloucestershire parish boundaries. More on that to come.

3. Finally, I was talking to some of the Group the other day about the importance of our local heritage. It was a wide ranging and useful discussion with a wide range of perspectives. “History” is a bit dry as a term, perhaps, and still to me implies something distant, to be learned. “Heritage” seems to be something more personal, something more to be engaged with, something we as a community own and which we as a community have to pass on. Elsewhere on the Substack I have detailed the Community Heritage Significance Statement which we put together a couple of years ago. I returned home and by chance came across the following quote. Swap out the word “Tradition” and insert “Heritage” and I think the quote starts to explain the importance of the local history and nature to us as a community. It’s not a dry defined thing to read about - it’s a burning flame to keep alight. Let me know your views.

   

   .