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| Shoveller (Male and Female) - © Jack Perks |
There’s probably not many
cafés or restaurants where you can enjoy a coffee or a meal whilst watching
some spectacular wildlife in their natural environment. But at the Attenborough
Nature Centre, you can do just that.
The Reserve plays host to a
wide range of species throughout the year, but it is through the winter months
that the ponds fill with life as migratory wildfowl use the Reserve as their
temporary home. Over 10 different species of duck visit Attenborough for the
winter, having flown from their breeding grounds in northern Europe.
Many of these can be seen on Coneries Pond surrounding the Nature Centre. The
panoramic windows of the centre café give impressive views over the water and
enable you to birdwatch in even the worst of the winter weather!
From ‘dabblers’ (surface
feeders) to ‘divers’, many species manage to co-exist on the same patch of
water. But if you’ve ever wondered how so many different ducks can share the
same food resources without competition, then maybe you should look a bit
closer at their behaviour - or more importantly, their bills. Just as we would
select a spoon rather than chop-sticks to eat our soup with, species of wildfowl
have evolved bills of different shapes and sizes for acquiring food.
The most common species of duck you are likely to
encounter at Attenborough is the mallard. The mallard is a dabbling duck and a
generalist feeder, eating almost anything it can get down its throat –
reflected in the large size and rounded shape of its bill. The shoveler on the
other hand is a more specialist feeder that feeds on microscopic aquatic
organisms. The shoveler’s bill resembles a flattened spoon, within which lie
hundreds of tiny comb-like hairs called lamellae. The shoveler uses its strangely
shaped bill to filter organisms out of the water to feed on. Species such as
the teal and the wigeon are specialist grazers. Like grazing geese, their bills
are much shorter and stubbier than the mallard’s or shoveler’s and are
therefore perfect for shearing the tops off of fresh green vegetation.
In very cold winters, as
some of the shallower ponds freeze over, you may be lucky to see goosander on
Coneries Pond. This large diving duck is one of the sawbill family. As the name
‘sawbill’ suggests, the goosander’s bill is long, thin and has sharp serrated ‘teeth’
– perfect for catching fish. The goosander’s rarer and smaller cousin, the
smew, can also be seen occasionally on the Reserve. Although the smew’s bill is
much shorter than the goosander it is equally equipped for catching fish.
These many adaptations
enable a plethora of species to inhabit the ponds and wetlands of the
Attenborough Nature Reserve. So next time you’re tucking in to a nice bowl of
soup or a sandwich at the Nature Centre, why not think about the different ducks
methods of feeding and how they’ve developed great
tools for accessing their favourite foods.
