Granddad’s Camera
Mallard, as it appears in the game

No.010 · Birds · Common

Mallard

Anas platyrhynchos

The familiar duck of every pond and canal. The drake has a glossy green head and yellow bill; the female is mottled brown and does all the quacking.

When to look

All year, mostly at dawn, day and dusk.

Time of day

Best time
Any time, all year; ducklings on the water April–June.
Where in the game
Millbrook (canal, pond and park) and the Norfolk Broads (broad, river, fen, grazing marsh and reedbed)
Size
Length 55–62 cm
Wingspan
About 90 cm
Weight
About 1.2 kg (BTO adult average)
Lifespan
Average about 3 years; the oldest ringed bird lived over 20 years (Wildlife Trusts, BTO)
Population
About 61,000 breeding pairs (BTO, 2016) and about 675,000 wintering birds (BTO, 2012–17) in the UK
Status
Amber (Birds of Conservation Concern 5, 2021)

Diet

Seeds, water plants, insects and snails; dabbles or upends in shallows; bread is poor food.

Habitat

Ponds, canals, rivers, lakes and wet meadows; almost any water.

Breeding

Nests on the ground under cover from March; usually 11–14 eggs in a single brood; ducklings leave the nest a day after hatching and feed themselves.

Field signs

  • Loud 'quack-quack' from females; drakes make soft rasping whistles
  • Flat nest of grass and down under a shrub, often far from water
  • Drake in summer 'eclipse' plumage looks like the female

Did you know?

  • Only the female mallard quacks; drakes whistle and rasp.
  • Most domestic ducks, except Muscovies, descend from the mallard.
  • After breeding, drakes moult all their flight feathers at once and cannot fly for around three to four weeks in summer.

Moments worth waiting for

  • Ducklings in a line April to June, day and dawn
    A mallard leads a line of fluffy ducklings across the canal, one straggler paddling to catch up.
  • Upending all year, day
    A drake tips up bottom-first to graze the pondweed, tail wagging.

Photo tip

Take low-angle photographs from the water's edge with the sun behind you to get the green shine of the drake's head. Ducklings are best on a calm, overcast morning in May.

Be a good naturalist

Do not feed bread: it fills them with junk and pollutes water. Use oats or chopped greens sparingly. Never pick up ducklings; the mother returns.

The law

All wild birds, their nests and eggs are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it is an offence to kill, injure or take them or damage an active nest.

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