as some of you may know already the Ruddy duck, an unwanted escapee, is gonna be culled this year.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=383057
The Ruddy duck comes from America but has escaped from wildfowl collections here in the UK , including Slimbridge, and now has a population of several thousand. The Ruddy drake is dominant over it's cousin the White-headed drake so gets the best of both worlds by having his wicked way with his own ducks and the White-headed ducks. The White-headed is rare and cant cope with the Ruddy's hybridising. These hybrids are fertile and are diluting the White'heaed gene pool.
the ruddy Ruddy duck
Poor ruddy ducks.
no Northerner! it's poor White-headed
This introduction of alien species has caused so many problems all round the world - grey squirrels here, rabbits in Australia etc etc. And we gardeners are often to blame too - himalayan balsam, japanese knotweed. Something we should all be aware of when we hanker after some exotic.
It's not the ruddy ducks' fault (just the ruddy humans'), but it's the white headed ducks that pay (and the ruddys too in this scenario)
I'm still sorry for the ruddy duck. After all it isn't his fault that the white-headed duck finds him utterly enchanting. All he's doing is spreading his genes around.
Yep, I know they have to cull them.
Poor wee duck.
Dont you kid yourselves that the ruddy duck has no friends, most water authorities here in England are hoping to protect them as they do not allow any shooting on their properties.