Mandarin

A rare visitor to Chard reservoir before 2009.

01/01/80 - Single female. Seen again on 05/01. (HCS)

18/01/00 - Single bird (DL).

08/10/03 - Pair stayed for 3 days (DWH)

13/03/07 - Single male (DWH)

08/07/08 - Single female (DWH)

2009 - Up to 7 from August to November, but elusive and not always present

2010 - 2 on 30/08, 7 on 06/09, 1 on 10/09 and record count 11 on 01/10

2011 - Up to 4 in November and up to 3 in December

2012 - 2 or 3 regularly seen in the winter months with a pair mating on 09/03

2013 - Up to 10+ in November, mostly 1-3 reported throughout the year

2014 - Max 4 on 08/01, also a pair from mid February to end of March. A female Wood Duck was also present, possibly accounting for occasional counts of 3 Mandarins during this same period

2015 - 3 males seen on 09/11 was the only record

2016 - 3 birds on 01/10 was the only record

2017 - A single female on 20/03 was probably this species, but could have been a Wood Duck.

2018 - A female with 2 young chicks was seen from 25/05 to 28/05. This is the first breeding record. No male was seen at that time and the chicks were not seen again after 28/05. Also a pair on 05/03 and 2 males on 12/03

2019 - A pair on 01/10, a single male on 19/10 and 3 birds on 25/10

2020 - One to 3 birds recorded on 12 dates through the year

2021 - One to 3 birds recorded on 13 dates through the year including pairs. Female seen with 2 small ducklings on 31/05 and were seen throughout June with 3 ducklings seen on 28/06 (without female). No male was ever seen with the ducklings

2022 - Up to 5 pairs and record max of 17 birds on 03/10. Successfully bred this year

2023 - Recorded on a massive 178 dates. 15 birds on 29/01, 01/10 and 02/10. No breeding recorded

2024 - Recorded on an even more massive 204 dates. Regularly up to 10 birds. 18 birds (SH) on 19/01 broke the 2022 record, but that was later exceeded with 30+ (Roger Lindsay) on 11/11 and notably 18 on 22/11, 22+ on 30/11, 22 on 11/12, and 26 on 16/12. Bred this year with 2 ducklings first seen on 29/05 and 3 juveniles seen on 31/07

2025 - Recorded on 196 dates. Often up to 30 birds with counts varying wildly from day to day as many birds can be resting up in the bushes on the western shore. 38 was a record count on 15/10 (SH & KGH) and that record was broken with 40 on 27/10 and 44+ on 29/10 (DWH)