Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris (Donovan, 1809)

Holt Bay, Blagdon Lake © Nigel Milbourne 2023

Records at Blagdon Lake:

  1. One male, not aged, 4th-21st April 1971 (R.M. Curber et al.), presumed same 26th March to 15th or 16th April 1972 (R. Arbery, S.B. Edwards et al. ). See note 1 below. Presumed same 30th June to 23rd Aug. 1972 (A.H. Davis), presumed same 16th March to 16th April 1973, & 4th June 1973. See note 2 below.
  2. One male, 1st-winter, 5th-15th Jan. 1977 (A.H. Davis). See note 3 below.
  3. One male, adult, 24th-27th April 1999 (N.R. Milbourne), presumed same 30th May to 27th June 1999 (A.W. Gibbs, N.R. Milbourne et al.), presumed same 24th June 2000 (R.M. Curber, N.R. Milbourne et al.), & 9th July 2000 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 4 below.
  4. One male, adult, 26th May to 16th June 2001 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  5. One male, adult, 15th-29th July 2001 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  6. One male, adult, 24th July-12th Aug. 2001 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  7. One male, adult, 30th April 2002 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  8. One male, adult, 3rd-6th June 2002 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  9. One male, adult, 4th-29th July 2002 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  10. One male, adult, 10th-17th Aug. 2002 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  11. One male, adult, 7th & 19th May 2003 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  12. One male, adult, 18th June to 26th July 2003 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 5 below.
  13. One male, adult, 4th-31st Oct. 2009 (N.R. Milbourne, R. James et al.) & presumed same 5th-6th Dec. 2009 (N.R. Milbourne).
  14. One male, adult, 18th-24th Aug. 2011 (N.R. Milbourne. M. Jenkins et al.).
  15. One male, 1st-winter, 8th-25th Nov. 2011 (N.R. Milbourne et al.).
  16. One male, adult, 2nd Nov. 2016 (N.R. Milbourne et al.).
  17. One male, adult, 12th-13 Nov. 2022 (A. Mears, N.R. Milbourne et al.), presumed same 11th, 17th Dec. to 1st May 2023 (N.R. Milbourne, B. Thompson et al.). Presumed returning individual on 11th Oct. to 17th Dec. 2023 (A. Mears et al.), 19th Dec. 2023 to 11th Jan. 2024 (N.R. Milbourne et al.), 30th Jan. to 20th Feb. (N.R. Milbourne et al.)  then again from 28th Feb. to 7th Mar. (N.R. Milbourne et al.) and again on 11th-16th Mar. 2024 (N.R. Milbourne et al.). What was almost certainly the same bird, returned again from the 21st Nov. 2024 to 14th Apr. 2025 (N.R. Milbourne et al.).
  18. One female, not aged, 2nd-8th Jan. 2023 (I. Dickie, F. Clark, M. Hynam et al.).
  19. One male, adult, 27th-28th Nov. 2024 (N.R. Milbourne, M. Hunt, J. Lewis.).
  20. One, (or two) male(s), adult(s), 23rd Mar. to 14th Apr. 2025 (N.R. Milbourne, M. Hynam et al.).

Record information:

Note 1: Final date is given as 15th April in Somerset Birds 1972, but 16th April by Andy H. Davis in Birds at Blagdon Lake 1963-1983, Bristol Ornithology 18.

Note 2: Considered by the Rarities Committee to be an extension of 1970 -1972 record according to Howard H. Davis in Somerset Birds, 1973.

Note 3: Immature male spent first half (of January) at BL (last seen on 15th) but returned to CVL for latter half according to Trevor B. Silcocks in Somerset Birds, 1977. On checking Somerset Birds 1976, 3 birds were present at CVL from 29th December 1976 into 1977, so the first date at BL is unclear. However, Andy Davis (pers. comm.) sent me the following note: “The 1977 record of a 1st-winter male was seen from 5th Jan. (I saw it on that date, but it may have been seen from 1st Jan?) to mid-Jan (don’t know the exact date). It was the same bird as the first mid-Dec record at CVL in late 1976, just before a group of 3 appeared in late Dec.” I have, therefore, given the first date as the 5th and the observer as Andy, unless any other information comes to light extending the dates either way.

Note 4: The correct dates are given here. The April dates were published incorrectly in ABR 1999 as 24-27th March. The 9th July 2000 record of the bird in Rugmoor Bay was not published in ABR 2000. Records during 1999 and 2000 were considered to involve the same wandering individual by the Avon Recorder’s committee.

Note: 5: During 2001 there were two individuals present at Blagdon from 24th-29th July, therefore, all records from 2001 to 2003 are listed because I cannot be sure which of the two individuals may have been seen after the period they were both at the lake.

Status:  Rare, Nearctic vagrant. Has occurred in all months bar September at Blagdon Lake. I have recorded this as a ‘rare’ Nearctic vagrant because many of the above records refer to birds that have stayed on this side of the Atlantic showing site fidelity from year to year. It is probable that eleven, or so, birds account for all the records at the lake to date. The first British record was of an adult drake noted by Philippa Scott at the Wildfowl Trust, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire on the afternoon of 12th March, 1955 (Scott, P. 1955). Peter Scott wrote “Although it is the first authenticated record of the Ring-necked Duck in Europe, the species was originally described by Donovan from a male “exposed for sale in Leadenhall Market, London” in January 1801 and said to have been taken in the fens of Lincolnshire. It is not clear why this early record has never been accepted, as, at that date, it seems very unlikely that it could have been an escape.” It was included in my copy of A List of British Birds (BOU 1915) with virtually the same wording. Interestingly, the second record of a bird in Britain and Ireland occurred at Slimbridge too, in 1977, where it was captured and ringed. It was later shot in Greenland, demonstrating that this species can fly back across the Atlantic.

Breeding:  There has been no evidence of attempted breeding at the lake, so far as I know.

Migration:  Short-distance to medium-distance migrant. Ring-necked Ducks breed in northern North America and spend winters in southern and western North America, northern Central America, and the Caribbean, often on freshwater. Much of the population migrates from central Canada to the southeastern United States, staging along the way in Minnesota and other parts of the upper Midwest. Fall migration lasts from late September through early December; spring is early February through March (All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology). The global population is estimated to number 2,000,000 mature individuals and is increasing (Meehan et al. 2018, Pardieck et al. 2018, Partners in Flight 2020).

Moult & plumage:  Ring-necked Duck follow the so-called complex alternate strategy (revised Humphry-Parkes nomenclature), which results in three plumages in the first year of life (juvenile, 1st-winter, and 1st-summer), and two plumages as adults (breeding and non-breeding/eclipse). So, we have the following sequence: Downy plumage, pre-juvenile moult, resulting in juvenile plumage, a first pre-breeding moult, resulting in 1st-winter plumage, a first post-breeding moult, resulting in 1st-summer plumage, adult pre-breeding moult, resulting in adult breeding plumage, adult post-breeding moult, resulting in adult eclipse (non-breeding) plumage, and so forth.

For each calendar year (CY): The top line shows the moult timing in red, and the resultant plumage that could be seen at the lake on the line below.

Males Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1CY Pre-Juv Pre-Juv 1Pre-B 1Pre-B 1Pre-B 1Pre-B
Juv Juv Juv/1-W 1-W/Juv 1-W/Juv 1-W/Juv
2CY 1Pre-B 1Pre-B 1Post-B 1Post-B 1Post-B 1Post-B APre-B APre-B
1-W/Juv 1-W/Juv 1-W/1-S 1-W/1-S 1-S/1-W 1-S/1-W 1-S 1-S 1-S 1-S/AB 1-S/AB AB
3CY APost-B APost-B APre-B APre-B
AB AB AB AB AB AB/AE AE/AB AE AE AE/AB AB/NB AB
Females Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1CY Pre-Juv Pre-Juv 1Pre-B 1Pre-B 1Pre-B
Juv Juv Juv Juv/1-W Juv/1-W 1-W/Juv
2CY 1Pre-B 1Pre-B 1Post-B 1Post-B APre-B APre-B
1-W/Juv 1-W/Juv 1-W/Juv 1-W/1-S 1-S 1-S 1-S 1-S 1-S 1-S/AB AB/NB AB
3CY APost-B APost-B APre-B APre-B
AB AB AB AB AB/AE AE/AB AE AE AE AE/AB AB/NB AB

Key: Juv = juvenile, 1-W = 1st-winter, 1-S = 1st-summer, AE = adult eclipse (non-breeding), AB = adult breeding.

Blagdon Lake: In my experience, Ring-necked Ducks that have spent any time at the lake, prefer to feed close to the bank in shallow water, if left undisturbed, diving in areas of emergent vegetation and among flooded tree roots. This often makes them hard to find, especially in the winter when the water level is high.

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Bibliography (sources of information):

  1. Scott, P. Ring-necked Duck in Gloucestershire: A New British Bird. Brit. Birds 48: 377-378, Sep. 1955.
  2. BirdLife International (2012). Species factsheet: Aythya collaris. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 28/10/2012.
  3. British Ornithologists Union. 1915. A List of British Birds Compiled by a Committee of the BOU. 2nd and revised edition. p. 177.
  4. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1999. Avon Ornithological Group.
  5. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2000. Avon Ornithological Group.
  6. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2001. Avon Ornithological Group.
  7. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2002. Avon Ornithological Group.
  8. Davis, A.H. Birds at Blagdon Lake 1963-1983. Bristol Ornith. 18: 102-116. Bristol Ornithological Club.
  9. Davis H.H. 1948. A Revised List of the Birds of the Bristol District. Reprinted from the Proc. of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society, vol. XXVII, part IV, pp. 225-268. 1947.
  10. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1971. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  11. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1972. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  12. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1973. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  13. McGeoch, J.A. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1977. Somerset Ornithological Society.
  14. Palmer P. 2000. First for Britain and Ireland 1600-1999. Chelmsford.
  15. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2003. Avon Ornithological Group.
  16. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2009. Avon Ornithological Group.
  17. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2011. Avon Ornithological Group.
  18. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2016. Avon Ornithological Group.
  19. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2022. Avon Ornithological Group.
  20. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2023. Avon Ornithological Group.

Last update: 11th April 2025