Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

There are still those who are confused and cannot put a name to it. Another Sussex name was rodge. Goodness knows how that happened. But grey duck is understandable because the gadwall is grey almost all over.

If you find difficulty identifying one, just look at its bum. It is jet black. Speculum (wing bar) is not obvious but in sunlight you should seek that orange/black/white bar. Otherwise it merges into the dead reeds and grasses like a shadow.

In Britain before 1849 there were no gadwalls to speak of because in that year a pair of wild birds caught at Dersingham decoy in Norfolk was pinioned and kept as a curiosity.

They bred and a nucleus of wild birds established. Gradually this small colony descended mostly from that one pair, possibly augmented by other wildlings, spread across the UK.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette January 16