UK Nature Blog

Female Scaup

A new duck for me! Reviewing my photos from the RSPB Rye Meads reserve it took me a while to figure out what type of duck was captured in this long distance shot. I initially thought it was a Ruddy duck, but the head just isn't even nearly right and it doesn't have a cocked tail. I finally figured out that it's a female Scaup and hence fairly rare. Certainly it was new to me so I'm glad I went back and looked carefully.

Here's an artier shot of the same bird with the evocative tall reeds of Rye Meads behind it.

Duck weed

I went for a pleasant meander around the RSPB's Rye Meads nature reserve today and though it was dull (as in grey and dreary weather) and there weren't many birds to be seen, I did get this photo of a pair of Mallards, which I rather like.

Autumnal scenes

A couple of pleasant and typically autumnal scenes for you, in case the darkening days are starting to get you down. Both of these are in UKNB's home town of St Albans, so if you're local you might recognise the first one at least.

August nature notes

A few things I've noticed of late:

• Lots of ladybirds about, especially 7-spot.
• Garden full of Gatekeeper butterflies all of a sudden, often in pairs. This is their time of year apparently.
• Slugs and snails living it up in the recent boughts of wetness (and eaten all our courgette plants) though it's still fundamentally dry out there and some plants are struggling.
• I have a large wasp's nest in the hedge - about the size of a football. I think they're Median wasps, so not the usual sort: bigger but much less agressive and bothersome. I blogged about them once before when I saw a single wasp before I discovered the nest.
• I saw a Red kite circling above the garden lower than I've seen it before - probably just 50 feet up or so. Their successful comeback seems to continue apace.
• Smooth newts are easily terrified and they just freeze. They also looks just like little lizards. I found one crawling across my decking the other night - frozen stiff at my sudden appearance. The picture above is a pair I found on a previous occasion.
• Wasps of all sorts are particularly evident now. Presumably their numbers have swelled as they built up the size of their colonies over recent months. August is traditionally a waspy time of year and before long they'll be drunk on rotten apples.

Is this a Ruddy duck or what?

Excuse the title, but I'm confused. This picture bears many major similarities to a Ruddy duck, but it also displays some jarring not-quite-rightnesses: the beak shape doesn't seem entirely correct, the head not chunky enough and the body plumage doesn't match. But there surely aren't many ducks with a blue bill and black and white head? Perhaps it's a non-UK exotic, since I saw it at Pensthorpe, which might mean all bets are off! Is it a cross-breed, e.g. a Ruddy Mallard? Is that even possible? Answers on a postcard please (or in the comments below).

I figure that the one at the back is a Merganser of some sort.

Answer: no - it's not a Ruddy duck. It is in fact a Puna Teal, native to South America. Thanks to Blackbird for enlightening us all in the comments!

Mandarin duck

You may have seen the striking male Mandarin duck on a visit to a park, as they are successful in the wild here in the UK, though they are originally from Asia as you might have guessed, with the UK population having grown from escapees. That said, according to Wikipedia and the RSPB (whose numbers don't tally but suggest 1,000 - 7,000 pairs) the UK population may be similar to those in their native homelands, due to exports and loss of habitat.

The BBC doesn't say much about them, but it does have a particularly interesting factoid: they're one of the few ducks that isn't hunted for food, as apparently it tastes really bad!

Mother goose

A Greylag goose specifically, which I learn is the ancestor of most domestic geese, though the RSPB seems a bit sniffy about the majority of them that you find in the UK, apparently being "semi-tame and uninspiring". I suppose that's what made them good as domestic animals.

Damselflies everywhere

It's the time of year when damselflies are everywhere, even in my garden with no pond. The one above is a male Red-eyed damselfly that was just one amongst clouds of the things around a lake I recently visited in Norfolk. I had to study my picture closely to check that it wasn't a Small red-eyed damselfly, but I think that the shape and colour pattern of the tail is the giveaway, not to mention I don't remember it being tiny.

Freshwater mussel

I spotted this quite large freshwater mussel in the shallow waters at the edge of a lake in Norfolk. Beneath the gunk it looks like it's probably quite a rich mixture of yellow/green/brown and I suspect it's a member of the Unionidae family as they look very similar. I don't see them very often, though apparently they're very common, especially in canals, though I remember finding a very large shell (perhaps 15cm) at the edge of a lake as a boy.

Whirligig beetles

At my favourite watery wildlife spot I saw a new critter yesterday, though I knew what they were the minute I saw them: whirligig beetles. There are some great close-up photos and facts on that linked page - well worth a look. My photo above shows how metallic they appear on the surface - seedlike blobs of mercury almost.

I recognised them instantly because they were clearly beetles, and were whizzing around in circles and figures on eight on the surface in a fairly hectic manner. Particularly notable is that they have eyes split into two, for seeing above and below the water (the link above has a particularly good picture of this).