Bingo! It’s a Ringo!

This female Ring-necked Duck swam into the record books as Northamptonshire’s 5th when Nick Parker picked it up during heavy rain at Wicksteed Park Lake, Kettering yesterday afternoon. Poor light hampered serious photography and the identification was tentative.

Not so today, though, when the bird showed well all day on the south-east side of the lake. A nice adult female: defined, though narrow while subterminal bill band (less defined and more diffuse on juv/1st winter), restricted, dull yellow-tinged feathering around bill base (whiter and more extensive on juv/first-winter) and uniformly patterned underparts (patchy/whitish in juv/1st winter) offer clues to age and sex of this individual.

This bird follows hot on the heels of last year’s female at Stanwick GP on 20th November, images and previous records here.