Ugly duckling PC makeover

A dowdy duck skulks amid vast rafts of winter wildfowl as if trying to dodge auditions for Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale.

- With STUART WINTER

Outshone by glamorous drake pochards and goldeneye in glistening shades of garnet and iridescent emerald, the young female long-tailed duck is the ultimate "ugly duckling".

So easily overlooked, she suddenly makes a deep dive before resurfacing in open water. This provides time to study her dun brown drabness - she will never develop the stiletto tail feathers of the magnificent drakes - but also allows me to ponder a back story as remarkable as the fable.