Country diary: Dancing dippers share the secret of their riverbank nest | Susie White

Allendale, Northumberland: After catching the male's courtship display, I spy their home - only a metre above the waterIt's early morning by the river and the frost is melting from the grass as the sun warms the back of my trousers. Cold doesn't linger much at this time of year. The water is a deep black blue, though the sky is still pale. On the bend below the twisted Scots pine, its branches layered as in a Japanese garden, are a pair of dippers. His white chest flashes as he bobs up and down, stubby tail jerking with synchronicity.I've been watching this pair for a few days now. Both sexes are almost identical, though the male dipper is slightly larger, but it's their behaviour that makes it obvious who's who. She's standing on a rock, preening in a disinterested sort of way as if filing her nails, while he does an energetic dance, strands of nest material dangling from his beak. Continue reading...