Ok... so something of a leap but I reckon that there is a chance that :

  1. my French is a bit wonky donkey
  2. that the Pochard I am about to talk about may not actually be from France....

Anyway, here goes... today there was a shout of 'What is that duck witha blue bill on the pools?' A quick heart in mouth moment from me (please do not ask why) that quickly turned to relief to find our returning female Pochard with the pale blue nasal sadlle.

She was diving close to us and we could clearly see the letters AV on either side and possibly a 6 on the top.  I seem to recall from seeing a similar bird (or even this one) that was trapped and ringed on the French Atlantic coast.

The saddle goes over the bill and is held on through the nostrils... sounds awkward but they have been proved to not affect the behaviour or feeding of the duck. On diving ducks they actually give you a chance of reading a number and tracing the movements of the bird!

I have submitted the details to the BTO and will let you know when I hear something back.  In the meantime here are a couple of shots from John Ainsworth.