Mandarin

One of four Mandarins I saw today at Leadmill Bridge near Hathersage.

These gorgeous ducks are native to the Far East, and have a growing population in the UK descended from escapes from wildfowl collections, and locally can usually be seen on the River Derwent. They're a tree-nesting species, and rarely for an introduced species fill an ecological niche otherwise unused in Britain, and there seems to be no harm caused by their presence to native wildlife. In fact the UK population is of conservation significance, bizarrely being one of their world strongholds as numbers dwindle in many of their homelands.