On The Pull

Mid-May prompted a bit of a twitch to Wintersett to see the drake Lesser Scaup which had arrived the following week. Having not seen this species for a good 10 years I was looking forward to giving it a good 'grilling', and a rather educational bird it turned out to be, too! In the company of tufties, nice comparisons could be made. It seemed particularly attached to a female tuftie, and it's this what prompted this latest pic. The controversial red bill-band has been omitted for creativity's sake! As useful as it is, without it it's a much better bird! I drew this on supposedly upmarket and artist quality Stonehenge paper which I've recently acquired. The jury's out - it's a bit grainy for me, although it will allow loads of layers of pencil, so we'll see.
Cheers
Russ

Field sketches of Lesser Scaup, Wintersett, 11th May 2015