Hi everyone it's Liam here from a shot of wildlife
and in today's video we're going to take a gander at some of the common birds
that live along our waterways, in our ponds, our lakes,
our rivers and our streams. Let's get started.
The Mute Swan is one of the most well-known water birds in the UK
and there are currently six thousand pairs in the country.
They grow to more than eleven kilos in weight and have a wingspan of almost
eight feet. These birds are found across most of the country
except in upland areas and usually set up home in slow moving rivers,
lakes and large ponds. In urban areas they can become very
humanised and often rely a lot on people for the food that they provide.
Young mute swans are called cygnets and have grey feathers,
whereas adults are completely white, have black legs
and a bright orange beak. At the base of their beaks they have a
raised black bump which is known as a basal
knob.
Greylag are the UK's largest native goose and 92000
of them breed here. These numbers are bolstered in the winter
when a further 90 000 migrate south from iceland.
They have a wingspan of between five and six feet and can grow to a weight of
more than three and a half kilos. Greylags are the ancestors of most
domestic geese and sometimes interbreed with those that
escape or are released. This means that there are sometimes
partially white or even fully white birds amongst wild flocks.
Truly wild Greylags have slate grey backs and wings,
a white rump and a lighter grey neck and head.
Their legs are washed out pink and their beaks are an orangey pink colour.
Canada geese were introduced to England from their native north america
around 300 years ago. Since then they have spread out across most of the UK
except the far north of scotland and there are currently thought to be more
than 60 thousand pairs breeding here. They have a wingspan of between four
and five feet and can weigh as much as four
and a half kilos. Their bodies are similarly coloured to greylag geese
except they have a black neck with white facial markings
and their legs are dark grey. Sometimes the two species will actually cross
breed and this results in young with washed
out Canada goose markings.
You won't be surprised to hear that Egyptian geese are not native to the UK.
They were first introduced from subtropical Africa in the 1700s
and have gradually established feral populations.
Most of these are around east anglia and southern england
but they are rapidly spreading north and west and have been reported in wales,
scotland and northern ireland. There are currently thought to be more
than a thousand pairs of these birds living in the wild here. Egyptian geese
have a wingspan of three to four feet and can weigh from one and a half to two
and a quarter kilos. They have bright pink legs and lots of
different colour markings over their bodies.
Barnacle geese are the rarest UK breeding bird on this list
and only really made the cut as I managed to film one when trying to get
some footage of egyptian geese.
Only around 900 pairs breed here but this number increases in the winter
when more than 90 000 birds migrate here from Russia
and greenland. There are also around 3 000 feral birds
that have either escaped or are part of free-roaming private collections.
Barnacle geese looks superficially similar to Canada geese
but they have visible barring on their wings, the white on their faces is larger
and they have black breast feathers. They have a wingspan of between four and five
feet and get to a weight of around 2 kilos.
There are more than 250 000 pairs of Mallards in the UK
and they are the species that most people think of when they say the word
duck. Wild Mallard males have vibrant green
heads, brown breasts, a white collar and a blue green patch on
each of their wings that's known as a speculum.
Females are much plainer in appearance and covered in patchy brown feathers.
Domesticated mallards are kept for food and as pets
but as some of these escape and breed, there can be some variations in the wild
birds. Truly wild mallards have wingspans of
just less than three feet and weigh between 750 grams and one and
a half kilos.
Teal are the UK's smallest breeding native duck.
Around four thousand of them breed here, mostly around the north of england
and southern scotland.
In the winter there's an influx of more than two hundred thousand birds, these spread out across the whole country and can form large flocks.
Teal get their name from the colour of the speculum on their wings
and aside from this the female is relatively drab.
The males however have chestnut brown heads with green facial markings,
a white bar down each of their sides and a finely striped grey pattern
over the rest of their bodies.
Teal have a wingspan of around 2 feet and weigh from 240
to 360 grams. This makes them smaller than a city pigeon.
Around 9 000 Great Crested Grebes breed in the UK,
usually on large lakes and rivers. They are well known for their mating
dance where they propel their bodies out of the water with their legs
and then turn their heads from side to side rapidly.
They get their name from their head crest of brown and black feathers
but this has led to lead demise in the past, the Victorians used to hunt them
so they could use their feathers in hat making.
Great Crested Grebes are excellent swimmers and have legs at the backs of
their bodies to help propel them beneath the water's surface.
They have a wingspan of just under three foot and can weigh from 600 grams
to one and a half kilos.
The little grebe is a bird that most people just catch a glimpse of
before it disappears beneath the surface.
5300 pairs breed in the UK and they are mostly found in lowland areas.
Little Grebes are often said to look like they have fluffy rear ends
and holding their feathers like this may help to insulate them when they dive
beneath the water. As is suggested by their name, Little
Grebes are smaller than their great crested relatives.
They have a wingspan of one and a half foot and weigh around 120 grams.
There are 31 000 pairs of Coot in the UK and they are usually found in lowland
lakes and rivers. They are covered in black feathers and
have a large white shield on the front of their heads.
This shield is fought to help them to recognise and to choose their mates.
Although they spend a lot of their time on the water, unlike all the other
birds already mentioned in this list, coots do not have webbed feet.
Instead they have feather-shaped flaps of skin that protrude from the side of
their toes and helps to propel them through the
water.
Coots have a wingspan of around two and a half foot and can weigh from 600
to 900 grams.
Moorhens are a common sight in urban ponds and riverbanks and can be found
all across lowland UK. Like coots they have a face shield but
theirs is bright red and runs down to the yellow tip of their
beaks. They have brown wings and yellow legs
that lead to feet that look disproportionate to their bodies.
These feet are not webbed and unlike Coots they do not have feathering.
This could be explained as moorhens tend to spend a lot of their time away from
water, amongst reed beds and grasslands
searching for food. The UK breeding population of moorhens
is around 1 million. They have a wingspan of one and a half
feet and can weigh from 250 to 400 grams.
Well unfortunately that's what we've got time for in today's video. If you did
enjoy it then you might also like this video here
where i take a closer look at some of the common garden birds in the UK,
or this video here where i go to a wildlife reserve
and see what species i can find. Thanks for watching
and i'll see you next time.