This wonderful image has been sent to us, showing an impressive 18 goosander (or common merganser) chicks with a mother on the River Tame at Water Orton.
Typically, a single brood of goosander chicks contains between 8-12 birds, which follow the mother to feeding sites along the river. Chicks from one brood will often join with other broods to form creches. This is what has happened with this large group – it is likely a creche of two broods.
