Probably the best place in West Berkshire for seeing ducks in winter is the pool at Lower Farm overlooked by the hide. Quite often in winter it is possible to see all of the seven commoner species: Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck and Gadwall.
Of these the Gadwall is relatively recent as a regular species. It used to be quite unusual and the Club sometimes had trips to the Cotswold Water Park particularly to see it. Now it is one of the commonest ducks.
Anything other than these seven species is rather special, so I was delighted to see a pair of Goosanders quite close to the hide on the 2nd February. The drake was showing its iridescent green head and red hooked bill very well. The underparts were white and did not show any of the salmon-pink wash which they sometimes do. This colour emanates from the preen gland which produces oil to waterproof the plumage. It must secrete the colouring at certain times, apparently especially in the winter, though clearly not always.
What surprised me most was the female, the brown-head or red-head, as they are often called. All the books that I can find say that it has a clear white chin patch clearly demarcated from the rich chestnut of its head and neck. This is a way of separating it from the Red-breasted Merganser female , which has the white merging into the chestnut colour. Well, this bird had no white chin patch at all. All the other features were there and so there was no problem with its identity. So I conclude that it must have been an odd plumage aberration.
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