What is it?

Fly tying season is in full swing for me now and most weekday evenings are spent at the vice. When I am busy like this I go through a heck of a lot of materials, meaning I am regularly topping up the most commonly consumed feathers and hairs. While putting together a shopping list earlier this month, I added peacock neck feathers as my stock of these electric blue hackles was running very low. Going on a well known online shopping site, I spotted what at first glance was a peacock neck, but a closer look showed I was wrong. The feathers were far too dull to be peacock.

I was intrigued by these feathers! The photo was unclear but they appeared to be blue/black in colour and around the right size for use on size 8 or 10 flies. Out of curiosity more than anything I bid and won the lot (the skin patch was part of a small job lot which had some other useable capes in it). I have had the weird feathers for a couple of weeks now and I still have no idea what they are. The colour is natural, not dyed and the feathers are plain, not barred or speckled in any way.

The skin, paper thin and very well preserved, looks like it comes from the neck of a relatively large bird. A previous owner had cut off a two inch square patch from one end and some of the feathers have been used judging by a couple of bare patches in the middle. That said, there are a lot of very useable feathers still on the skin. Structurally, the individual feathers are very similar to golden pheasant body feathers, leading me to wonder if this is indeed from some sort of dark species of pheasant? The individual strands are very fine and mobile, just about perfect for head hackles on Bumble or Octopus patterns.

It is the colour of the feathers which is so intriguing though. At first glance they look to be a dull, sooty black shade, but when the light catches them there is a stunning indigo blue sheen on the feathers. This shade is not like anything else in my huge collection of feathers. The blue sheen is nothing like peacock, it’s far more subtle. The way the colour changes as you twirl a feather in the light is highly unusual in my experience with that entrancing indigo almost flashing on and off as the rays play on the glossy side.

So what is this mystery find? The overall appearance of the patch is of something very old. This was not harvested from a bird recently and I would hazard a guess that it is many decades old. Perhaps is was part of a collection of Edwardian materials? Back then, any exotic bird was fair game and all sorts of strange feathers found their way to fly dressers who were creating complicated salmon flies. It is tempting to say it is just a faded peacock neck patch but I really don’t think it is. The structure of the feathers is different to any peacock neck feathers I have ever seen. if any of you know what this is please drop me a line, I’d love to be enlightened.

The obvious question is what to tie with them? My initial idea is that they are a perfect substitute for dyed blue guinea fowl on lough patterns. These hackles are much more subdued and natural looking so I’ve been trying out some variations of well known flies but using the indigo feathers as head hackles. So far, bibios, claret bumbles and silver pennels have rolled off the vice sporting the indigo hackles and very smart they look. I’ll keep tying with them and keep the resultant flies handy for next season.

I was in Scotland last weekend to visit my mother in Aberdeen. Storm Babet turned what should have been a normal run up the length of the country from Cairnryan into a journey from hell. With the A90 shut I stopped off with my sister in Edinburgh for a couple of nights then chanced the A92 on the Sunday. That route was shut just north of Montrose but some messing around lesser byways got me to the Granite city and an all too brief few hours with my mam.

While twiddling my thumbs in Edinburgh I took a trip to the Edinburgh Angling Centre. I don’t need any new gear but I mooched around checking out the latest goodies. As I am tying so many flies the displays of materials were of particular interest. What struck me was the prices of even the most basic of materials! I am not criticising EAC, they appear to be on par with other retailers. It is just a shock to someone who has not been buying materials in any quantity for years just how expensive fly tying has become. I admit there was a sale section on the end of one of the aisles where I found some useful bits at very affordable prices so I spent a little getting some synthetics I would not normally buy. I will only use a tiny amount of fritz, chenille, marabou etc some paying full whack for packets in all the colours is just not feasible for me.

With work looking manic for me until the Christmas break, and in all probability for the first three months of next year too, there will be no opportunity to pop over to Scotland again anytime soon. That sense of my life slipping away due to work commitments is very real to me right now and plans to retire have ratcheted up once again. A book I am writing is coming along nicely but I could do with spending time on it to get it ready for publication. Much as I enjoy my current job I would rather be writing, fishing and making flies. 2024 could be the year I make that transition.