Richard Collins: Handing over to auntie shelduck in crèche

This odd-man-out among dabblers does its own thing, cocking a snook at the conventions of duck society.

Shelduck are resident here all year round, nesting around the shores of Courtmacsherry Bay.

A big white duck, with a dark green head and a chestnut stole draped across the breast, breeds on estuaries all around Ireland.

Known as the ‘shelduck’, ‘sheld’ being is an old word for ‘pied’, it is not in fact our largest duck; that distinction goes to the eider. But the shelduck is impressive none the less.