Pochard Aythya ferina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Herriott’s Pool, Chew Valley Lake © Nigel Milbourne, 2011
“Breeding on Blagdon reservoir was reported in 1931, 1932 and 1934 by Mr. Carr, the Ranger, to the Wells Natural History and Archaeological Society. Since then, the bird appears to have made the reservoir a regular breeding place. In 1936 the writer, accompanied by Mr W. Wall, was on the north bank among a profusion of iris, sedge, rush and dropwort. An egg appeared on wet ground among the stems of flowering Water Dropwort Oenanthe fistulosa. There was a small filament of down about a foot from the egg. A visit to the spot on July 9 was rewarded by the discovery of the female incubating eight eggs; she flew off and joined her mate on the water. The nest was composed of coarse aquatic vegetation, with stems and leaves of the dropwort at its base. The down was by then fairly plentiful and feathers were also present. Both duck and drake were at sufficiently close range to be easily identifiable” (Lewis, 1955).
Here is a chart of the regular winter WeBS counts made since 1960 with each winter presented as an average of the counts made from September to March inclusive, with the first winter period plotted against the x-axis viz. winter 1963-64 is shown against 1963 on the x-axis.
Bibliography (sources of information):
- British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) website
- Lewis, S. 1955. The Breeding Birds of Somerset and their Eggs. Arthur H. Stockwell Ltd., Ilfracombe, Devon.