Nonferrous Duck.

A lovely drake Ferruginous Duck has been touring around North Tyneside for the last few weeks, having come to its senses and flown across the river from Washington WWT.

At first it was quite elusive on Gosforth Park Nature Reserve where the large reed beds gave a good hiding place from prying birders, but last week, it flew to Killingworth Lake, a better viewing spot. The stay here was all too brief and then the trail went cold. The duck had vanished.

Until yesterday that is, when it was relocated on a tennis court sized pond in Silverlink Park, in the heart of urban Tyneside. I hadn't really bothered about it before, due to its reluctance to show, and the fact that no one dares mention...cough...that it came out of a pen full of Ferruginous Ducks at Washington WWT....

But, in post-Brexit England we are still innocent until proven guilty, so this bird is un-ringed, full winged and in fine fettle. It's quite able to hide and fly off at short notice so it does  'look the part' and that's all we can accept really. Wildfowl are very prone to fence hopping and even taking on a pseudo-migration after doing so, but it could have come here all the way from Eastern Europe so it will do for me.

This is only my second UK Ferruginous, after one on Hadston Lake ( now DBCP) in October 1990. After 27 years, it was time for another...and what a little cracker he is too....

[No 'Fudge' Ducks on these pages folks!]