Wood Duck

Sunday was such a gloriously cloudless day (although chilly), it would have been criminal to spend it indoors, so I chose to have a look over Eyeworth pond following a report of a drake Wood Duck. This showy duck really belongs in N.America, and its popularity in wildfowl collections suggest it is very much more likely to be an escapee than a vagrant. Still, its a handsome chap...

 

  

 

In tow, he had a female Mandarin who seemed quite impressed, interestingly, remarkably similar to the female Wood Duck.

  

A drake Mandarin seemed most put out by this activity and followed them across the pond, only to be chased off by the determined Wood Duck. Reading about it, there seem no records of any Wood Duck/Mandarin crosses, in fact Mandarins don't seem to interbreed with any other species in the wild. Wood Duck hybrids on the other hand do turn up from time to time. Apparently even if these two did mate, the eggs are almost bound to be infertile due to some chromosomal incompatibility.

In this show of foreign colour I thought I'd better redress the balance with a bit of true Brit colour..

There is of course fabulous colour to be found around in any garden, or in this case carpark. I just liked this shot on a rare day of sunshine this winter (or is it spring? - Depends who you ask) 

A walk along the ridge overlooking Black Gutter Bottom was thoroughly uproductive apart from 4 bolting Roe Deer. Small birds of any species were  hard to come by, even in the woods at the far end of the valley. For the record, noted species were Buzzard (2), Song Thrush (1) Mistle Thrush (4) Robin, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Black-headed Gull, Rook, Crow and Magpie.