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Exotic Wildfowl in the Sheffield Parks and elsewhere.
Tony J Morris

Male Wood Duck - Photograph Copyright © John Rochester.

I am often approached by non-birdy friends and colleagues and by members of the public regarding the status of some of the wildfowl which can be seen in the Sheffield area, especially those which are easy to see in the various City Parks. During the time I used to organise the local Wildfowl Counts [now WeBS] for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, I had in my possession a list of all of the exotic species of wildfowl "kept" in the City Parks. This list was quite extensive. Some of the birds, like the Whooper Swan at Endcliffe Park had been injured by flying into overhead cables and taken into care. It recovered, but having lost it's ability to fly was thus placed in the park. Of course this often gave rise to out-of-season reports of the bird in the middle of summer. Other species to be placed in the parks are Wood Duck [top and bottom photographs], Mandarin [below] and male Ferruginous Duck [second bottom], all of which can be seen in Endcliffe Park. In addition, there are several collections in the Sheffield area, which rise to records of such species as Egyptian Goose, Chiloe Wigeon and others. A couple of [Australian] Black Swans were regular visitors to RVCP at one point. Just as a point of interest, there is at least one series of records of Mandarins in Sheffield which are considered to be as wild as we are likely to get in this country: a party of 8 or 9 at Broomhead Res in November 1992 were considered at the time to be most likely from the Virginia Waters population.  These photographs were taken by John Rochester and Richard Hill as indicated, during 2001. Last updated 9th December 2001. 

Male Mandarin - Photograph Copyright © John Rochester.

Ferruginous Duck - Photograph Copyright © John Rochester.

Male Wood Duck - Photograph Copyright © Richard Hill.

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