Ring-necked duck, Taylor Park

I was babysitting in St Helens this morning and we were just about to go out for a walk to the nearest play area when my phone beeped and I had a message informing me that Dave Owen had just found a drake ring-necked duck on Taylor Park lake.

Not quite the nearest play area but not much in it so off we set at a brisk pace and 20 minutes later we arrived at Taylor Park to find a gathering of St Helens finest watching the bird at quite close range. We watched it for several minutes and then headed off for the swings. On our way home we called in for a second look at the duck. 

This was not only a St Helens tick for me (#197) but also a full blown Merseyside tick (#280) having dipped on the bird at Lunt a year or two ago and having been working away when the only other St Helens ring-necked duck was at Newton Lake in 2014.

The brown blotches on the flanks seem to indicate that this is a 1st winter drake, and correspond with markings on a bird that was at Mere Sands Wood near Burscough up until a few days ago, so presumably the same bird.