Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
The ruddy duck is a native of North and Central America, and the northern part of South America. In its native range it is common, with a stable population of over 500,000. However, since being introduced into wildfowl collections in the UK from North America in the 1950s, it has become established as an invasive non-native species in Britain. It is now widely distributed in Britain with the main concentrations in southern and central England. There are also very small resident populations in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland but the distribution and size of these populations remain very limited. The UK holds 95% of the feral ruddy ducks in Europe.
Impact
The ruddy duck is unusual in that its main negative impact is not to biodiversity in Britain but is overseas. It is the most serious threat to the survival of the white-headed duck Oxyura leucocephala with which it hybridises. The white-headed duck is the only member of the Oxyura genus native to Europe. Its European range is now limited to Spain (resident population) and the eastern Mediterranean (wintering only). Spain is the only region in which it has expanded its breeding range and population size in recent years. Through determined conservation action (banning hunting and site management) numbers in Spain have risen from 22 in 1977 to 2,600 in 2003.
Ruddy ducks are seen as such a serious threat that they are one of only four invasive species whose import into the EU is banned to protect native biodiversity.
Control
Due to the seriousness of the threat to the white-headed duck Defra funded several years of research into the feasibility of eradicating ruddy ducks from the UK. A full-scale eradication programme began in September 2005. This will run for five years, and is jointly financed by Defra and the EU LIFE-Nature programme with staff from Central Science Laboratory carrying out the control.
This is a unique eradication programme due to the large geographic extent involved (the whole of the UK) and the need for co-ordination with other European governments to ensure that small feral populations elsewhere are also eradicated. Control of Ruddy Ducks is concentrated on the main wintering flocks and the prime breeding sites. Control by shooting has proved to be the only effective method to bring about a rapid reduction in the population, but other methods, including breeding season trapping and egg oiling, may be employed at later stages of the eradication programme.
There is currently a general licence which allows the shooting of ruddy ducks in England issued under Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This allows control of the species to be carried out by landowners in England at all times of year subject to providing Defra with details of the numbers of birds culled. In the UK it is only legal to buy or sell Ruddy Ducks under licence, and no licences have been issued for several years.
Useful Links
Research:
Defra
control trial
Protecting
the White-Headed Duck
Questions
and answers related to ruddy duck.
Ruddy Duck Project Page
Organisations:
Central Science Laboratory
Defra
White-Headed Duck website
