On a cold January day, the beauty of a drake mandarin duck is always dazzling. A drake mandarin has orange whiskers, a red bill, a broad creamy eye-stripe and an iridescent purple chest, all set off by a pair of extraordinary curved orange wing feathers which stand up like a boat's sails. Females are subtle shades of brown and beige.
Mandarin ducks are native to the Far East where the birds are a popular artistic motif, because they were often seen in pairs, they were symbol of fidelity. And in China silk bed covers and pillows embroidered with mandarin ducks are traditionally given as wedding presents.
Here in the UK, mandarin ducks have always been sought after for wild fowl collections. And since the late 1800s, birds have escaped or been released on private states. Today there were 7,000 birds living in the wild and the numbers are increasing. Mandarin ducks can weather the worst of our winters, grabbing for acorns, beech masts and chestnuts in woodland and delighting us with their strange swishing calls.
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