Ducking And Diving About On The River

A prodigious piscivore, the crafty cormorant or ‘sea crow’ can dive to depths of 30ft, where its prey includes eels of up to a yard long, gulps David Profumo.

- David Profumo

STYGIAN, primeval, noisome and uncouth, the common cormorant isn’t exactly a cheery festive bird, but a reminder of the darkness in the world that lies beneath all the candlelight and tinsel.

Its Latin name (Corvus marinus) suggests kinship with the crows, but actually it belongs to the same order as pelicans. With an impressively cosmopolitan distribution across Europe to the Orient, the cormorant—or scarf, hiblin, Billy diver and Ralphie—is abundant in Britain and, although essentially a sea bird, it has adapted to inland habitats, much to the displeasure of fish farmers and anglers. The UK population of this piscivore is probably in excess of 40,000.

A hefty bird, weighing up to 8lb and with a 4ft wingspan, the ‘sea crow’ (Phalacrocorax carbo) is frequently confused with its more elegantly marked, smaller cousin the shag (P. aristotelis), which is exclusively coastal and sports remarkable green eyes. Carbo has a serpentine neck, a powerful bill with a decurved tip and scraped yellowish cheeks—the Greek appellation signifies ‘coal-black baldheaded raven’.