Ruddy Duck #40

Today we took my neighbour, Mal, to Woolston Eyes reserve in an attempt to see the Ruddy Duck that appeared a couple of days ago and the pair of Ferruginous Ducks that were seen yesterday - both species being rare in the UK. 
Early on the Ferruginous Ducks were reported to have flown off and there was no sign of the Ruddy Duck either, so we started on Bed No.3, the regular route that we have always done. It was quite successful in that we saw 48 species of birds, 3 new ones - Black Necked Grebes, Lesser Redpoll and Sand Martin, but no sign of the Garganey pair from first light. 
We were about to head home when we met a birder who said that the Ruddy Duck was showing nicely in front of the hide on the new Bed No.4.
So we went to see if we could find it - 2 miles later and some very wet feet from my neighbour (we had wellies on) and we finally arrived at said hide but there was no sign of it. I was VERY miffed to say the least and also quite tired after yesterdays exertions and now a good few miles under our belts. We normally don't do more than about 3 miles as we are so unfit!!!
Thankfully, after about 20 minutes this weird looking blue billed diving duck emerged - unmistakeable and showing beautifully. 
Apparently these are birds from North America, that were introduced into UK collections in the 1940's only to escape and breed quite quickly in the wild. However, report of this little duck reaching Spain and mating with the rare white-headed duck caused outrage amongst certain bird groups and its fate was sealed. The government sponsored a programme to eradicate all of these birds between 2005 and 2010 costing thousands, which I find really sad. Only a few of these birds are still found in the UK and mostly go unreported unless they are found on protected land where they cannot be harmed (as in Woolston Eyes).  Hopefully this little one will be undisturbed and be allowed to continue its life in peace. Great to see one and add another lifer to my list :)