Long time no post! Apologies that I have been a little lax in posting. Life has kind of taken over but I’m back and have some wildlife related adventures coming up over the next few months that I can hopefully share with you!
I’m starting back with a Creature of the Week. I happened to spot this little chap at Wollaton Park in Nottinghamshire. Just this single male from what I could see and he seemed rather too friendly for a true wild bird (he was being hand fed when I first spotted him) so I suspect he is actually an escape that has got a bit lost.
But it let me get a lot closer to this beautiful dabbling duck. Often referred to as a ‘grey’ duck, the male has a glorious array of patterned feathers and seems rather delicate next to the brash mallards. He wasn’t as perfectly preened as I would have expected with his feathers a bit ruffled and the definition between the varying patterns were indistinct and not quite the clean separations you normally see. This is most evident on the white bar or speculum which is normally a clean white block next to the black rump.
He was silent, but as a breed they are fairly chatty with a series of low croaky sounds that make them sound like a chorus of frogs not a flock of ducks. And during breeding season when the males have a lovely little ‘pee’ whistle when courting a female.
We have a small (790 pairs) resident breeding population but over wintering birds swell the numbers to around 25,000*. They like the shallow vegetation around the edges of lakes and gravel pits and occasionally visit coastal lagoons.
*Breeding figures from the RSPB
