On 27th December Connor Fraser found a female Ring-necked Duck on the Gretna Road Pool at Longtown ... on 30th December Pete Howard and Adam Moan visited the site and Adam's photograph revealed that there were two females present ...
This site is slightly tricky being on a busy road with a narrow verge ... the views are to the south causing light problems and trees obscure the views ...
I visited this morning hoping to avoid the glare of the sun and Connor was already on site ... along with another birder we located one of the birds through the trees at the east end and then the other some distance away towards the west ...
The bird at the west end showed a complete white band across the bill and a fairly distinct eye-ring and pale line behind the eye ... all good adult features ...
By now the east end bird had swum into a gap in the trees and gave better views ... it had only a small white patch on the bill and less of a distinct face pattern suggesting that it was a first-winter bird ...
This is the first time that two birds have been present in Cumbria together ... it was not until 1982 that the first Cumbria bird was recorded, at Sunbiggin Tarn on 4th-7th April ... what was presumed to be the same male was later seen at Chapel Rigg Tarn and Esthwaite Water over the following month ...
Several more males were recorded through the 1990s with birds often 'touring' local water bodies and also returning to similar locations in subsequent years ..,
It was not until 2007 that a female was seen and this was at Campfield Marsh ... a female was then recorded at Bassenthwaite Lake over the winters of 2007-8 and 2008-9
The next record was also of a female, this time at Siddick Pond in January 2017 ...
A male was recorded at Tindale tarn in January 2019 and spent alsmost two months 'touring' around Talkin Tarn, Castle Carrock Reservoir and some nearby Northumberland sites ...
