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Pochard - Aythya ferina

The Pochard or Common Pochard (Latin name: Aythya ferina) is a medium-sized but stocky diving duck smaller than a mallard in the same family as swans, ducks and geese.

In the UK, Pochards breed in eastern England and lowland Scotland, and in small numbers in Northern Ireland, with numbers increasing gradually. Large numbers overwinter in Great Britain, after retreating from Russia and Scandinavia.

he Pochard or Common Pochard (Latin name: Aythya ferina) is a medium-sized but stocky diving duck smaller than a mallard in the same family as swans, ducks and geese. The adult male has a long dark bill with a grey band, a brownish red head and neck, a black breast and tail feathers, red eyes and a light grey back, and in flight show a pale grey wing-stripe. The triangular head shape is quite distinctive. Pochards are superficially similar to the closely related North American Redhead and Canvasback.

he Pochard or Common Pochard (Latin name: Aythya ferina) is a medium-sized but stocky diving duck smaller than a mallard in the same family as swans, ducks and geese. The adult female has a brown head and body and a narrower grey bill band and blotchy cheeks.

Their breeding habitat is marshes, lakes and canals with a metre or more water depth. Pochards breed in much of temperate and northern Europe into Asia. They are migratory, and winter in the southern and west of Europe.

These are gregarious birds, forming large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks, such as Tufted Duck, which they are known to hybridise with. We saw the ones pictured here in Brentford Basin, GUC in May 2010.

These birds feed mainly by diving or dabbling. They eat aquatic plants with some molluscs, aquatic insects and small fish. They often feed at night, and will upend for food like mallards as well as their more characteristic diving method.

In the UK, Pochards breed mainly in eastern England and lowland Scotland, and in small numbers in Northern Ireland, with numbers increasing, perhaps helped by the creation of more gravel pits and reservoirs. Breeding birds are susceptible to disturbance and pollution though. British breeding birds disperse in winter, some to Europe, and many birds move here in winter from northern and eastern Europe.

Good places to look in summer are open lakes, gravel pits and wide canals in lowland eastern and southern England and Scotland. Found all year round more widely in a mild winter, often on larger lakes and even on estuaries.

They eat water plants, seeds, snails, small fish and insects.

There are an estimated number of around 85,500 individual Pochards so there is a good chance of seeing them on the canal system.