Ageing thespian and crumbling luvvie, Mandarin Drake, trod the Shakesperean boards for so many years down in old Stratford town that they finally named a duck after him (or maybe not)! “Yea….Whatever”, (as my fourteen year old daughter would say)….The difference between the male juvenile or eclipse and the winter plumage of a drake Mandarin is nothing short of staggering (see above)! I photograhed this little beauty at about 100m from Beaufort Bridge not far from the marina in Tewkesbury. He too was playing tag-along with a bunch of Mallards!

The juvenile’s plumage is in stark contrast to the magnificent look of the drake bird in adult life (see below). The eclipse adult must forsake his magnificent plumage as he enters into an “eclipse” phase for the summer….a time when, with a family to care for, he really doesn’t want to be drawing attention to himself! Still, it must be pretty depressing for him having to go back to being an ugly ducking after being such a beautiful….er….duck!