Pochard - Aythya ferina

The Pochard is a stocky diving duck, smaller than a Mallard. The male is pale grey with a rusty red head and neck, and a black breast and tail. The female is brown with a dark head and blotchy cheeks. In flight, birds show a pale grey wing-stripe.

Good places to look in summer are open lakes and gravel pits in lowland eastern England and Scotland. Found more widely in winter, often on larger lakes and even on estuaries.

All year round

Pochards 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 as well as the more characteristic diving.

Birds breed in eastern England and lowland Scotland. More birds move here in winter from northern and eastern Europe.

Quite common as a winter bird in Leicestershire and Rutland but rare as a breeding bird here.