Today while i was at Rutland Water, i came across a reasonably sized bird flying over. It had a bright orange body with clearly a big white wing bar. Originally the wing bar made me think of a Egyptian Goose, but once i had my binoculars on it, i could see it was a Ruddy Shelduck. I suppose it was most likely an escape, but i'd like it to think it was wild. A nice bird none-the-less with a great supporting cast of 29 Goosanders, 90+ Goldeneye, Lesser Redpolls, Siskins, Treecreepers and Goldcrests. Rutland Water never disappoints.
[SIZE="2"]Nice bird to see EB,the one's on my patch can be heard before being seen usually,noisy blighters,I had 2 pair nesting last season,hoping they stay again this year [/SIZE]
i had 2 at arnside last year which i like to think may have been wild. i listed them on Bubo and a couple of months later Bubo had a cull and scrapped most peoples listing of them. does anyone know approx numbers of wild ones???