A fast-flying heavyweight
THE European or common eider is the largest species of duck in the Northern Hemisphere. A powerful diurnal marine diving species, it regularly descends to 20m below the sea’s surface using its wings like a penguin, in order to dislodge mussels (its favourite food) from the sea floor. These are swallowed whole, whereas crabs and fish are crushed in its powerful wedged-shaped hooked bill.
is the most numerous breeding sea duck of northern European, and is mostly seen in flocks, which sometimes number in the thousands. It is distributed around the coastal areas of northern Europe, Asia and North America, northwards into countries within the Arctic Circle. In the UK it is found mainly in Scotland and in the surrounding islands, with outlying colonies off the coast of Lancashire and
