Final goodbyes to a ruddy duck

Post published: 26/05/2024

A gorgeous drake ruddy duck was found at the west end of Pennington Flash on Friday and was still present today. I was asked not to put out any news until after it had gone, for obvious reasons. It's a species with a price on it's head following the issuing of licenses to shoot them which began in 2005, in response to fears that this North American alien, introduced into the UK in the 1950s, would spread into Europe and hybridise with the globally threatened white-headed duck in Spain.

Back then there were about 6,000 birds in the UK, but now the population has been decimated and all but wiped out and it's thought that there are only about six individuals left. I don't want to get too embroiled in the rights and wrongs of this cull, but neither do I want to be responsible for the death of this particular bird or play any part in the final demise of the species in the UK. So I was happy to comply with the request to keep it quiet and delay publishing this post until a later date when the bird is long gone.

I used to enjoy watching ruddy ducks, they're really smart birds in my opinion with a wonderful display, and were a great addition to the UK avifauna. Locally there used to be some big flocks, with 70 birds regular on Prescot Reservoirs and the largest flock I've ever seen was 133 at Woolston Eyes in 1984. I have also seen them in Central Park, New York. 

Edit 26/03/2024: Following a three day stay at the flash, presumably the same bird turned up at Woolston Eyes where they were not so concerned about the birds welfare and put the news out on BirdGuides. 

It was fabulous light this morning and I spent quite a lot of time saying my final goodbyes to this bird. It could easily be the last that I will ever see, unless of course I go back to USA which at this point seems unlikely. Quite emotional really.

I'd love to know the origin of the bird. I mean we're all assuming that it's the last of the introduced population, but even if it is, where was it born, where's it been hiding, how has it escaped the cull this long? But with perhaps only six individuals left in the UK, are we getting to the stage where it's more likely to be a genuine vagrant? Seems fanciful perhaps, yet quite a variety of North American ducks do reach our shores, including ring-necked duck, lesser scaup, hooded merganser, green-winged teal and bufflehead. If pied-billed grebes can turn up with some regularity, why not ruddy ducks? They do migrate in North America, and there are records of birds from the extremities of the UK and Ireland. Last year a drake was in Antrim, Northern Ireland, a female in Mayo and another drake was reported from Orkney in October. If we were talking about records of pied-billed grebe there would be nobody doubting the authenticity of these birds, yet surely pied-billed grebe is an even more unlikely vagrant than ruddy duck? Unfortunately though, it doesn't suit the narrative of those wishing to eradicate ruddy ducks to consider this possibility. 

Yet if and when we get to the stage where ruddy ducks have been completely eradicated from the UK, what then? Imagine if we go five years without a record of any ruddy ducks in the UK, leading us to conclude that the cull has been a success and the introduced population has been wiped out. Then in October, a male and female turn up in Cornwall. What do we do about it? Last year there was a flock of 10 lesser scaup on Drift reservoir in Cornwall. What if a flock of 10 ruddy ducks turns up somewhere? Do we just let them be or do we decide that we now need to kill wild vagrants? I'm not sure, but hopefully not the latter.