Dune Duck

A quick update on that red-nosed duck from yesterday ....

I got a response late yesterday evening from the Portuguese scheme organiser. Red BE was ringed as a juvenile male on 11/11/2016 at a site on the west coast of Portugal - the Sao Jacinto Dunes Nature Reserve. On Google Maps it looks like a marshy wetland site just inland of coastal dunes:

And for context, as the juvenile Tufted Duck flies, that is c1453km / 903miles from Watermead CP in Leics.

Having been ringed and saddled, it remained in the same area until 22/12/2016. Amazingly, all subsequent sightings have been from just two sites - Watermead CP and Draycote Water in neighbouring Warks:

30/12/2017 Watermead CP

09/09/2018 Watermead CP

04/10/2018 Draycote Water

09/10/2018 Draycote Water

08/03/2020 Watermead CP

23/08/2020 Watermead CP

20/09/2020 Watermead CP

01/10/2020 Draycote Water

06/10/2020 Draycote Water

25/07/2021 Watermead CP

16/09/2021 Draycote Water

03/01/2022 Watermead CP

Where was it in 2019? Wonder where it goes during the spring/early summer? Does it just go to Draycote Water to moult?

What is clear is that it has carried that plastic nasal saddle around with it for just over five years, so they can't make that much difference. It also has a weird preference for inland lakes in the English midlands versus the coastal dunes of Portugal.