Common Pochard

The Common Pochard is a stocky diving duck. The male is pale grey with a rusty red head and neck and a black breast and tail. The female is brown with a dark head and blotchy cheeks. In flight, birds show a pale grey wing-stripe.

Common Pochards breed in eastern England and lowland Scotland and in small numbers in Northern Ireland. Numbers are increasing perhaps helped by the creation of more gravel pits and reservoirs.

British breeding birds disperse in winter and many more birds move here in winter from northern and eastern Europe where they can be found on lowland lakes, flooded gravel pits and reservoirs

Date: 10/12/06

Location: Welney WWT reserve, Norfolk