Duck Spectacular!

A nice flock of Barnacle and Pink-footed Geese just up the road early morning had nothing rare amongst it, sadly, but a Leucistic Barnacle happened to be one of the nearer birds and posed for its photo to be taken. At a loss as to what to do next, I decided to head over to some local ponds on the off-chance I might relocate the scarcity that had been reported there a few days ago. If all else failed, I could take some shots of the various duck species. To cut a long story short, I couldn’t find the scarcity in question on the main pool where it had been reported last. I concluded that it must be on the smaller pool. The light was poor (facing south), but as the ducks pulled away from the near shore, I noticed one in particular that had a very distinctive profile: there could be no mistake – this was a drake Mandarin! Decidedly uncommon round here (they are generally found on Derwentwater or further south), this was a real treat and completely unexpected. Problem was the terrible light, but I managed to get some decent shots, my first of this species in Cumbria for years. Resorting to my 2x converter, I took a number of shots; it’s just a shame the damned thing wouldn’t come any closer. But better still, I scanned the water to my right and picked up the female Ring-necked Duck! I managed to manoeuvre the ducks back up towards the northern end, and with patience, I got some rather pleasing images, albeit heavily cropped but still very satisfying. I know I’ve said it before, but the female of this species, though not in any way as distinctive and well marked as the drake, has a certain subtle beauty about it. Other duck species posing in the bright sunshine were Eurasian Teal, Gadwall, Shelduck and Goldeneye, the last of which I caught on camera on the main pool, just before a Peregrine flew over chasing a mini-murmuration of Starlings. There was also Buzzard and Long-tailed Tit, but I was too slow to get onto these and had the wrong lens on anyway. So, not a bad day altogether!