Pochard

The Pochard is a medium-sized diving duck with a distinctive rounded head and sloping forehead. Males in breeding plumage have a striking rusty-red head, black breast, and pale grey body. Their back is finely vermiculated grey, creating a subtle, elegant pattern.

The drake’s winter plumage is bold and striking with a pale grey body, darker grey upperwing coverts and paler grey flight feathers. In eclipse plumage, males are similar to females but have greyer bodies, darker breasts and a plain face.

Females are more subdued, with a brown head and body and slightly paler cheeks. Both sexes have a grey bill with a black tip and grey legs. In flight, both show a pale grey wing stripe.

Both males and females are generally quiet birds but during the breeding season the male has a display call consisting of a wheezing whistle which rises and falls similar to ‘kil – kil’. The female has a softer purring growl.

Pochards spend the summer in lowland lakes, reservoirs or gravel pits particularly in eastern England and Scotland. In the winter, with the dramatic increase of migrants, they are widespread throughout the UK mainly in estuaries and on larger lakes and reservoirs.

Pochards are social birds and will often be seen in flocks. Spring and summer are the best times to spot Pochards as the male is in its clearly defined breeding plumage which is easily recognisable. Females and males in eclipse plumage closely resemble many other species of dull brown ducks, particularly at a distance.

Frequently a nocturnal feeder, diving for its food, the pochard eats aquatic plants, roots, shoots and seeds and occasional aquatic insects and their larvae. When diving the pochard will regularly reach depths of up to 2.5 metres.

The nest is normally well concealed, built on the ground or over water constructed using grasses, leaves and reeds lined with down. A single brood consisting of between 8 – 10 grey green eggs is laid from April to July. Incubation lasts for around twenty five days with fledging taking up to fifty five days after hatching.

Pochards are skilled divers, often submerging themselves for 15-30 seconds to forage. During winter, they form large flocks on open water, sometimes mixing with other diving ducks.

During the breeding season, males perform head-throws and whistling calls to attract mates.

The lifespan of the pochard is between eight to ten years.

The Pochard is classified as Vulnerable due to significant population declines across its range. Threats include habitat loss, particularly the drainage of wetlands, hunting, and climate change impacts. Conservation efforts focus on protecting and restoring wetland habitats.

Often referred to as the Common Pochard, the drake, in line with many other duck species, is readily identifiable in the winter and breeding season with its bright coloured plumage and distinct patternation but in its ‘eclipse plumage’ during the summer months, becomes a rather dull non descript bird, not unlike the female. The drake’s winter plumage is bold and striking with a pale grey body, darker grey upperwing coverts and paler grey flight feathers. The primary and secondary flight feathers have dark tips and the underwing is slightly off white. The breast is gloss black as are the rump, tail, undertail coverts and mantle (below the nape of the neck). The head is a rich red brown with a sloping forehead and peaked crown. The eyes are orange and the bill a dark grey with a black tip and a pale grey band across the upper mandible, between just below the nostrils and finishing approximately two thirds of the way down the bill. Legs and webbed feet are a bluey grey. In eclipse plumage the male almost mirrors the female but overall has a greyer body and darker breast area with a plain face. The female has a matt brown head with pale grey cheeks and above eye stripe extending from the base of the bill and a pale grey throat. The body is grey brown morphing to a darker brown on the back with dark grey brown upper wings. The bill is similar to that of the male but the eyes are a dark brown. Juvenile birds are similar to the adult female but without the eye stripe and with more mottling on the underparts.