Rare Ruddy Shelducks at Rainham Marshes

[@garystone6583]

Hi Neil. First video i have watched of your and am glad we met today at Rainham Marshes. Glad I had to return to pick up the lens cap I left as probably wouldn't have known about your channel. Great work and will be watching more now.

[@ukwildlife]

Thanks Gary, was good to meet you too :)

[@MikeLoane]

Great video many thanks - really lovely footage of the hovering dragonfly….

[@ukwildlife]

Thanks, I was chuffed with the dragonfly too :)

[@petecross9470]

More like ruddy dog walkers! 😆 Lovely to see such diversity at my old stomping ground! Great video! Thank you!

[@ukwildlife]

Thanks, yes they can be a pain too! Rainham is such a good reserve for all sorts of wildlife

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Nice behaviours captured there Neil. 👍

[@ukwildlife]

Thanks Graham

[@richardchew1767]

Hi Neil. I have seen genuinely wild Ruddy Shelducks in northern Greece but also at Abberton Reservoir in 2011 and at Frampton Marsh in 2019. These latter birds are on my UK list but I am not wholly convinced that they should be 😊 Interesting to hear about a feral breeding population in Germany .... I was not aware of that. That Bearded Tit was beautiful and you also captured some amazing flight footage of a Migrant Hawker. Excellent stuff! When you see a Little Egret and a Great White Egret together (which is increasingly possible now in Essex and elsewhere), it really is a case of “little and large” 😊

[@ukwildlife]

Thanks Richard - I still haven't updated my bird list, I may have them on there already as I found a female with ducklings in London, but in hindsight I shouldn't have counted them. I've also seen a Shelduck-Ruddy shelduck hybrid at Rutland. I was pleased with the migrant hawker footage too as you can probably tell :)

[@davehodgkiss]

Well captured Regards Dave👍

[@ukwildlife]

Thanks!

[@jess53nz]

What a great visit! We get Paradise shellducks in nz, the females are the colourful ones. Noisy buggers.

[@ukwildlife]

It was - I think my cousin has mentioned them (he lives there), talked about a noisy large duck which fits that description!

[@jess53nz]

@ukwildlife very noisy! Whereabouts does your cousin live?

[@davidipema7898]

👍

[@ukwildlife]

cheers

[@maxiguppy]

Nice footage! Were you using the gh6 and 150-400?

[@ukwildlife]

Thanks! Yes, with the oly 2x tele convertor too

[@maxiguppy]

@@ukwildlife wow! Was AF operative? :)

[@ukwildlife]

@maxiguppy just about. AF on the GH6 is not great at the best of times and struggles a bit with the f11 aperture of this set up, but it can lock on to slow moving subjects in good light