Specie's Page                                               Water Fowl - Red-crested Pochard

Red-crested Pochard:   UK Status: Non Native, but there is a feral population in the south east of the UK, as a result of ornamental birds escaping, and possibly deliberate unauthorised releases.

Habitat: This bird is a diving duck, and seems to prefer larger pools and lakes, especially if the have reed fringes. There is a quite large population of these ducks in Spain, and smaller colonies in France, Germany and the Netherlands. It is also found along the Asian Black Sea as far as Mongolia, and also found in India and parts of Africa.

Breeding: There may be as many as fifty breeding pairs in the British Isles, and up to six hundred overwintering birds. These ducks build their nests near the waters edge, they lay between eight, and up to twelve pale green eggs in each clutch.

Comment: Some wild birds may occasionally come to the UK from Europe. It is thought however that most breeding birds in the British Isles are escapee's from collections on ornamental lakes.

Foot note:   Many ducks, especially males do not look their best late in the year as they go through their annual moult, called the eclipse. Females are affected too, and this makes both sexes more difficult for the casual observer to identify them.