Mallard

Mallard

Anas platyrhynchos

Mallards are large, heavy looking ducks with long bodies and long broad bills. The male of the species has an iridescent green head, a striking yellow bill, a white neck-ring’, a brown breast, and purple-blue speculum feathers on its wings. Female mallards have more understated plumage with light and dark brown speckles, along with the same vivid purple-blue speculum. Despite their more modest looks, the females have a loud and distinctive quacking laugh: the quintessential duck’s quack we often hear and very different from the drake’s softer call.

They are the most ubiquitous of the dabbling ducks – that is ducks that ‘up-end’ to search for food rather than diving completely under the water. Other dabbling ducks include teals, wigeons, gadwalls, pintails and shovelers. Diving ducks include tufted ducks, goldeneyes and eiders.

Mallards have been domesticated for centuries in this country, which means different sorts of plumages have evolved and they don’t always look exactly the same. You can see mallards on most park ponds and lakes but also in rivers and estuaries. They moult after their breeding season and are flightless for 4 to 5 weeks.

The term “mallard” comes from the same origin as the word “male” and was initially used to describe the drake only rather than the female too.

Migration stories

Many mallards live here all year but they’re joined by vast numbers of migrating mallards for the winter – the UK population more than triples over the colder months. Records from ringed mallards show they arrive from France and the Netherlands, the Baltic States, southern Finland and even as far as Russia.

Local spotlight

Mallards are very common around the Solent coast and also further inland in park ponds, rivers and lakes. However, despite being very common their population in the UK is thought to have decreased by over 30% in recent years.

Conservation status

Mallards are not assessed for conservation status in this country.

While they might not be listed in the Solent’s Special Protection Areas, they are still important for the coastal ecosystem and form part of the non-breeding waterbird assemblages for which these regions are protected.