RFI - Muscovy Ducks at Lowestoft/Oulton

[Andy Musgrove]

Hi all

Steve Dudley and I are trying to find out something about the status of Muscovy Ducks in the Lowestoft area. Wetland Bird Survey counts from the mid-90s include up to 102 birds on Oulton Broad/Lake Lothing. "Birds of Suffolk" mentions that there were substantial numbers in the Lothing area. The annual Suffolk Bird report for 1999 says that the species was thriving in the Lowestoft area. However, since then, there have been only a handful of birds reported from there in Suffolk Bird Reports.

I don't visit the area all that frequently, but have had a quick look on several occasions in recent years and don't recall seeing any Muscovies around Oulton or Lothing (not that I was particularly searching for them).

So, it's a bit of a mystery. Can any Lowestoft locals shed any light on this? Are they still around? If not, did they decline naturally, or could they perhaps have been culled?

Any info gratefully received.

Best wishes

Andy Musgrove
BTO

[dbradnum]

Hi Andy

You might want to try contacting the guys who run the Lowestoft 'Lounge Lizards' birding website: http://home.clara.net/ammodytes/.

cheers

[Andy Musgrove]

Hi Andy

You might want to try contacting the guys who run the Lowestoft 'Lounge Lizards' birding website: http://home.clara.net/ammodytes/.

cheers

Thanks David - good idea

[Jonny Crossbill]

Are the attached two ugly brutes Muscovys?

They are resident on Needham Lake - I think they must be contender for the most ugly bird EVA!

[becclesbabe]

Killed an eaten by Human european immigrants in the late 1990's
There are still some in Beccles <5 pairs.

[Jonny Crossbill]

Killed an eaten by Human european immigrants in the late 1990's
There are still some in Beccles <5 pairs.

Hahahahahaha, yeah I used to live above most of Poland, like 10 people in one flat the same size as the one me & me lass live in. They was forever eatin em. Like at least one a day & two on Sundays.

They also collected the feathers & made quilts/bean bags to sell on Bury market it was well intense.

On a serious note Norfolk birding has declined TERRIBLY. In the one year I have ventured North of the border I noticed it acutely.

I think its all the crystal-meth the over 60's birding fraternity are into, there all sweaty palmed & scope-shakers, flippin out all over the place seeeing Brown-headed Cowbirds where there used to be Blackbirds!

Also, 78 is just within me age range - just ;)

[becclesbabe]

I have been observing and recording the growth and decline of the Muscovy since 1953
in Lowestoft and feel qualified to comment.
It WAS the foriegners who ate them It was at the time the Porugese came to Lowestoft to work at Bernard Matthews Turkey factory . The Kirkley Fen population were released in 1990 after goslings were released there after being bought at Beccles Market. These were culled by the local shooting group in 1993 during the Canada Goose Cull.

[Jonny Crossbill]

Are the attached two ugly brutes Muscovys?

They are resident on Needham Lake - I think they must be contender for the most ugly bird EVA!

Sadly at least one of the above ugly ducks has expired. A note pinned to a tree from 'the man who feeds the ducks' says he took it to the vets with extremely bad head & body injuries... possibly from a car or dog!

No sign of the the 2nd bird either.

Sad day for the ugliest of all ducks :-C