SAND and SALT ~ Wildlife notes from Forest and Coast.
For many of us, the word ‘duck’ brings to mind the semi-tame mallard of the
village pond, or even thoughts of orange sauce.
This is something of a pity, because the word ‘duck’ covers a wide range of
species, belonging to several different genera, and occupying widely different
habitats. We are most fortunate in this area to be able to see many of these
species as wintering birds –sometimes in considerable numbers. Ducks are
divided into two broad types: dabblers and divers, and
some of the latter fall into a group called the saw-bills.
The well-known mallard is a dabbling species, and
these tend to be broadly vegetarian, up-ending to
reach aquatic weed below the water. Other
examples of this type are the wigeon, teal, shoveler
and the elegant pintail. These species can all be seen
readily on the Pennington end of the marshes, usually
on freshwater floods. Shoveler are unusual ducks in that
pintail
they filter food through their large and bizarrely-shaped bills, rather like
a flamingo.
Diving ducks tend to be less familiar, primarily because they are usually birds of
deeper water and coastal habitats. The tufted duck is fairly well known, but
others such as the scaup and goldeneye are much less common, and visit the
Hampshire coastline in only small numbers. Much more common, but virtually
unknown to most people is the mysterious all black scoter, a species that lives
almost entirely at sea, feeding on mussels, and can be hard to spot without a
telescope. It is sometimes accompanied by the much rarer velvet scoter, the
drake of which is again all black, only with a white wing
patch which is very conspicuous in flight. Seen with
scoters, but also closer inshore is the eider duck. The
source of the famous insulating down, the eider is a
very handsome bird, the males black and white with
unusual green and pink markings.
Of the sawbills, the only species which can be seen
regularly on this coast is the red-breasted merganser.
This is another species with a slightly implausible, eider duck
almost comic name, but it is an extraordinarily handsome bird –the
males having an unusual ‘punky’ crest, and attractively marked plumage.
All of the above species can be seen at various points along the coast, and all
are species which can make a dull walk that little bit more interesting!
Graeme Lamkin of Arum Design
45
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