High speed Mallard!
Introduction
The photograph on this page of High speed Mallard! by Leanmeanmo as part of the Geograph project.
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Image: © Leanmeanmo Taken: 28 Mar 2022
I think this was a Mallard drake on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. He caught my attention because he was travelling at a tremendous speed; Spring was in the air and maybe he'd had word there were females around? I did wonder whether it was possible to estimate his speed from the wake angle. However, it appears that Lord Kelvin analysed wakes in some detail around 1887 and, in still deep water, over a range of speed values, the 'Kelvin wake pattern' and wake angle remain the same! The angle is 39°, which would look about right for this chap.