STATUS AT LONGHAM LAKES
Common resident, one of the few species invariably seen on every visit. Significant numbers winter, and even more significant numbers now breed.
Breeding:
2010: Remarkably, the first ever breeding records were on Longham Reservoir South in July. On 19th, 3 females with families, one with 11 ducklings. On 23rd there were no less than 9 females with a total of 54 young.
2011: Female with 9 small chicks, 14th and 17th June. On 24th June 3 broods of 10, 9 and 11 (Trevor Thorpe).On 29th June 3 broods of 9, 7 and 6 chicks (22), with broods on 7 and 10 seen on 5th July. Things soon exploded again, with at least 90 young on 24th July and at least 84 on 30th, then an amazing 118 chicks/young counted on 15th August.
2012: Broods spotted on 19th August of 11, 6, 4 and 18 (39 in all). (Robin Trundle and Trevor Thorpe). On 20th August George Green estimated 50 chicks in 8 broods, one female with 23 chicks.
2013: Young reported on 26th April (LB). On July 30th, aggregations of 8, 7, 5 and 29 (49 in all) – meanwhile Alan Pearce reported broods of 8, 8 and 12 “over the last three weeks”. On 2nd August there were 125 young in 10 different units. On 25th August George Green confirmed 120+ young. On 2nd October a raft of 110 Tufted Ducks looked like the young of the year.
2014: Two creches of 13 and 30 young on 18th July (Trevor Wilkinson), then 89 newly hatched chicks on 20th (Trevor Thorpe), about 140 chicks in 9 groups/creches (range 2-52) on 21st (George Green) and 136+ on 24th, all of about the same age. 120 remained on 24th.
2015: 60 ducklings were seen on 14th July with 7 adults, then 130 young were counted on 25th (Lorne Bissell). On 28th July a single creche of 53 were seen attended by 2 adults.
Tufted Duck with back-riding chick, Longham Lakes, 16/07/15 (Lorne Bissell)
Autumn gathering of Tufted Ducks, Longham Lakes, September 2011 (Dominic Couzens)
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | ||||||||||||
| 2003 | 8 | 9 | 38 | 16 | ||||||||
| 2004 | 24 | 28 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 35 | 54 | 82 | 83 | ||
| 2005 | 36 | 32 | 27 | 42 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 24 | 38 | 41 | 63 | 81 |
| 2006 | 75 | 60 | 22 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 30 | 22 | 86 | 50 | 27 | 50 |
| 2007 | 7 | 17 | 22 | 47 | 19 | 1 | 21 | 35 | 45 | 71 | 65 | 55 |
| 2008 | 22 | 23 | 18 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 41 | 92 | 80 | |||
| 2009 | 40 | 55 | 65 | 64 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 28 | 38 | 36 | 39 | 159 |
| 2010 | 94 | 33 | 35 | 1 | 82 | 42 | 48 | 56 | 144 | |||
| 2011 | 98 | 31 | 73 | 93 | 49 | 62 | 31 | 118+ | 129 | 117 | 104 | 91 |
| 2012 | 122 | 111 | 209 | 111 | 164 | 124 | 29 | 31 | 90 | 68 | 108 | 141 |
| 2013 | 30 | 54 | 117 | 100 | 126 | 86 | 48 | 125+ | 203 | 110+ | 81 | 120 |
| 2014 | 162 | 77 | 170 | 141 | 114 | 138 | 73 (140y) |
63 | 187 | 32 | 100 | 134 |
| 2015 | 111 | 130 | 195 | 192 | 288 | 247 | 91 (130y) | 273 | 178 | 140 | 126 | 57 |