Welcome To The Kingfisher Wildlife Diaries – John Bailey
November 17th 2009
Pike Strike
Traditionally pike have been seen as the demon of UK waterways. There savagely-toothed appearance has given rise to such aliases as the water wolf and they've been saddled with an unenviable reputation as a real butcher of general aquatic wildlife.
Interestingly, despite spending an entire lifetime, until recently I'd actually seen very little evidence indeed of pike taking waterfowl. It wasn't until May just gone that I actually saw for the first time a pike attack and consume a coot.
Then, just a few days ago, at the Kingfisher lakes, we caught a very good sized pike and, when unhooking it, found the remains of a bird halfway down its gullet. There was lively discussion amongst us as to what that bird actually was...you might have your own ideas spawned by the photograph. My own guess, though, is coot or watermen.
Of course, I remain firmly convinced that pike virtually always exist on a fish diet if that is available. It could well be, however, that fish are less accessible to pike at present than they have been. Eels, for example, have always been a favourite food of pike but, at present, are suffering severely through over-fishing and various ill-defined viruses. Pike also exist heavily on small silver fish like roach and bream. However, the escalation in the number of cormorants has meant there are less silver fish in many lakes. This could mean that pike are being forced to look for alternative food supplies.
What is for sure is the fact that nature is very volatile, always changing and always placing new demands on the creatures that live under her ever-changing rules.