I have been an enthusiastic sea angler for most of my life, and on every trip I have watched these birds make my efforts look amateurish by comparison. There is no getting away from the fact that they are beautiful animals, whether they are surfacing with the fish that I was trying to catch in their beaks, or playing statues with their wings out as they dry in the sun. However their ungainliness on land always makes me think of Christopher Isherwood’s nonsense poem – hence the painting’s title.