Eyeworth Mandarins

I hadn't much room on my camera card left and I had stretched my legs in the woods after hearing what I was pretty sure was a Lesser spotted Woodpecker drumming not so very far from the path. I coudn't find it and it stopped not long after I headed towards it. I headed back and got some bread and seed to fulfill that age old amusement in feeding the ducks (Mallards) and Geese (Canada) and to see if anything other than the expected Marsh Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Nuthatches would come down to feed on the gateposts.
The Mallards and Mallard crosses followed me up to hoover up any spilt seed, but I didn't expect in the melee for the normally more timid Mandarins to fly straight onto the gate to give me my best ever views of these extraordinary creatures.
I'm just going to post the photos of this cacophony of colour and bizarre design that is the Mandarin Duck, they are beyond words.
 

 

 

  

I can't help thinking that the artist who first painted these birds would be a bit annoyed that he or she didn't varnish them better below the water line. However, criticism is a little futile, even unacceptable

  

  

  

 

What a fortuitous coincidence to find both Goosander and Mandarins on the same pond, both the most unlikely waterbirds to nest in holes in trees, and both fascinating and beautiful in different ways. What a lovely morning,