A Nice Surprise

[Adam Cheeseman]

My girlfriend and I found these guys on a local lake near Bracknell on a very cold frozen morning recently. Normally only Mallards and the odd Moorhen on here. There was a female Mandarin too but she was camera shy.





Cheers,

Adam

[jaykay]

lovely photo's Adam

[pressld2]

Very nice! I wonder if they've been driven south by the weather? When I was in Regent's Park last weekend the wildlife officer told me that there are only twenty-odd mandarins in the collection but he'd just counted 74!

Dave P.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Very nice! I wonder if they've been driven south by the weather? When I was in Regent's Park last weekend the wildlife officer told me that there are only twenty-odd mandarins in the collection but he'd just counted 74!

Dave P.

I think most of them live in the south anyway. Plenty in the London/Surrey area + always great to see.

[agrumpycow]

There are quite a few Mandarins around the area, I've seen quite a few in the Wokingham/Reading area which is not too far away from Bracknell at all. Just out of interest, Adam, on which lake were they?

[John]

They are certainly not all in the South. I always thought that the Forest of Dean was the stronghold until Friday (15 Jan) when 112 were seen on the River Severn just outside of Bewdley, near to Trimpley reservoir.

I have seen a few on the Reservoir before, and had a couple on Dowles Brook in the Wyre forest but never ever imagined this many were up this neck of the woods.

John

Originally Posted by aeshna5

I think most of them live in the south anyway. Plenty in the London/Surrey area + always great to see.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by John

They are certainly not all in the South. I always thought that the Forest of Dean was the stronghold until Friday (15 Jan) when 112 were seen on the River Severn just outside of Bewdley, near to Trimpley reservoir.

I have seen a few on the Reservoir before, and had a couple on Dowles Brook in the Wyre forest but never ever imagined this many were up this neck of the woods.

John

I realise they are elsewhere, but southern England probably has the largest populations. I have seen them in the Forest of Dean- I guess technically the Midlands, but still relatively southern. I believe there are a few even in Scotland, but the main point was they aren't a northern species moving south in response to harsh weather.

With many waterbodies frozen throughout the UK birds will disperse from some sites to others, possibly on a local scale.

I was watching a group of c40 a couple of weeks back + seemed unfazed by the cold with 9 drakes actively pursuing a female.

[pressld2]

My original post was very badly worded. I realise they are not a northern species that migrates south in cold weather like some of our geese and swans do. But I recall seeing them in the Wyre Forest with John and just wondered if some of the ones that had spread further north were now being pushed back south by the snow. Hence higher numbers on the Thames, in Regent's Park, etc.

Dave P.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Must admit I don't knowthe name of the lake where I saw them,but now they have cleared off again.
Virginia Water in Surrey/Berkshire is the epicentre for Mandarin Duck in Britain.

Cheers,

Adam

[Cheryl]

Very nice Adam

I've seen a pair at Waggoner's Wells in E Hampshire - I've not been for a while so on my next visit I shall make a point of looking to see if they are still there.