THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

5The gadwall has an air of austere decency about it: something to do, I think, with its posture, the neck held noticeably straight to the perpendicular, upright and officer-like, none of the mallard’s disreputable slouch. The drake appears dressed in close-fitted tweeds, a fine houndstooth of tan and grey. The white secondary feathers of the inner wing – the patch known as the speculum – set off the ensemble like the protruding edge of a pocket handkerchief.

Smyth/Guardian, 2018