Cormorant

[treecreeper]

I went out the front door this morning and this was in the garden



It waddled around as I was taking pictures and did a sort of gutteral hiss if I got too close. Is it normal for cormorants to visit gardens? I'm only half a mile from the sea and there are ponds close by.

[Dogghound]

Its a 1st winter shag. No not normal could it fly? What happened to it? Did you get a look at the ring number?

[Tursiops2]

It's certainly not normal for Cormorants to visit gardens, but given the recent weather conditions in your part of the country, it's not really a surprise to find one blown half a mile inland. Is it still there? Does it have room to take off? (I don't know if they need a run-up to take off from land - it might need help to leave)

T2

[RoyW]

An interesting garden visitor!

If it hasn't left of it's own accord by now then it's definitely in trouble. Shags do seem prone to being "wrecked" though, and small numbers often end up inland after stormy weather (most of these find their way to reservoirs and large gravel pits).
If you were able to read the ring number you should be able to find out where it originally came from.

[treecreeper]

Thanks for the correction Dogghound; shag not cormorant. I watched it for several minutes. It walked into next door's garden at which point I went to tell a neighbour about it, but by that time it had disappeared. I didn't get close enough to look at the ring.