Collect this page

Wildlife on the Exeter Canal

Canal birds – updated 1st December 2007

By Rowena Jay

Moorhen

Family: Rallidae; Moorhen (Gallinula Chloropus). Length: 33cm (13in).
The Moorhen can be found on ponds, lakes and streams, bobbing its head up and down and flickingits tail as it swims. It is a very agile bird and can roost in trees. They eat worms, snails, fish, various leaves, seeds and berries. They build a nest of twigs and dead reeds lined with finer plants among water vegetation or sometimes in hedges or trees. The male gathers most of the nest material while the female builds the nest. They breed between April and August, producing two or three broods in a year of five to eight dark-spotted buff eggs. If the water level raises when nesting in water-side vegetation more material is added to the nest to lift the eggs clear. The young from the first brood will stay with their parents to help feed the young from the second brood.

Cormorant

Family: Phalacrocoracidae; Great Cormorant, Atlantic Form (Phalacrocorax carbo). Length: 91cm.
Cormorants can be found at seashores and also on inland waters.They are often seen perching with their wings outstretched and it is thought that this is to dry them. They fly low over the water before settling on surface and then dive for fish.

Heron

Family Ardeidae; Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea). Length: 90cm (36in).
The heron mainly eats fish, amphibians, large insects and small mammals and other animals. They nest in a heronry, which is situated in tall trees. The nest is a large platform of twigs and this is built by both the male and female. The heronry is often used as a communal winter roost. Herons breed early with most of the eggs being laid by early April. They have one brood a year of four or five pale blue eggs, which are incubated by both birds.

Duck

Family: Anatidae; Mallard Duck (Anus platyrhynchos). Length: 58cm (23in).
Mallard ducks are the ancestors of all our domestic ducks. They graze on grass and eat acorns, water-snails, caddis fly larvae, frogs and fish. They build a nest of leaves and grasses in dense vegetation or sometimes in a tree. They have one brood a year of eight to 12 grey-green eggs, which all hatch together. The female rears family by herself [typical!]. After male has mated he moults into a plumage that is similar to that of the female. Both the female and male shed flight feathers at the same time rendering them flightless. After the breeding season the male moults back to his brilliant coloration.

Swan

Family: Anatidae; Mute Swan (Cygnus olor). Length: 152cm.
This swan is very common and becomes tame on park lakes, along rivers and on village ponds. They will build nests on the banks of rivers and lakes and will over winter on open waters and also at the coast.

Egret

Family: Ardeidae; Little Egret (Egretta garzetta). Length: 58cm.
This is a long-legged wadder that feeds in shallow water. The little Egret has yellow feet and in the Summer a long white crest of hanging plumes. They usually nest by water. When flying they draw their heads back.

Back to wildlife and flora in Alphington's lanes and on the Exeter Canal.