After reading the Daily Post today about the Mandarin in Llangollen it tickled my fancy somewhat! So on my way back from seeing my parents in St Helens I called in at Raby Mere near Bebbington on the Wirral (Google it). There's been a feral population on this Fishing lake for yonks now with them breeding there most years. Today a male flew in, plopped onto the lake and tried to chum another female until a rival male chased it off, thankfully into the path of my camera (above photo). In North Wales I saw 7 Males at the Osprey project once, a male at Llanrwst a few years back and a flighty female one summer at Cors Erddreiniog. Other than a population on the Dee near Chester are there any other populations nearby? Are they established in Clocaenog at that picnic spot?
There is a pair at Gresford Pond (not Gresford Flash) on High Street. Been within a couple metres of these as they come to road's edge with the mallards.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a small breeding population of Mandarin Ducks on the Glaslyn in the Porthmadog area for some years now, as you say Steve. I saw them fairly regularly at the Osprey Protection site. There was another population closer to Porthmadog at one time but I haven't seen them at that site for a few years. They are believed to derive from two pairs that escaped from captivity in around 1997. These are the only Mandarins I have seen which behave 'naturally'. They are very wary of humans and cannot be approached closely. You would never get a photo like the one above, for example.
ReplyDeleteThe Gresford lake birds have been around for a year or so now.
ReplyDeleteThere is still a good population still of 'wild' birds along the lower Dee from Chester through the Wrexham area.