Bird of the Month: Teal John Mcewen

And near to them ye see the lesser dibbling teal In bunches with the first that fly from mere to mere, As they above the rest were lords of earth and air. Michael Drayton, from Poly-olbion (1622)

The teal ( Anas crecca) has never had any vernacular alternatives to its English name, which imitates one of its calls. It is the smallest of the ducks. The drake is as beautiful as any of the jewel-like drakes of the duck family.

Happily, its numbers are increasing. October and November see a migration from western Europe and Siberia which boosts our resident population by 1,000 per cent, to more than 200,000. The resident British population has progressively declined and shifted to the far north and west, as population demands take their toll. By contrast, the winter influx has increased over the past 30 years, by 40 per cent in the UK and 30 per cent in Ireland. Choice of country can change – perhaps one year England, the next France. Outside nature reserves, teal remain wary in the wild. What John Clare wrote in To the Snipe holds true:

Wigeon and teal And wild duck – restless lot That from man’s dreaded sight will ever steal To the most dreary spot…

But wintering teal can be readily seen on marshes, washes and estuaries. J A Baker described them in The Peregrine: ‘From the big marsh pond came the murmur of the teal flock, like an orchestra tuning up. They were skidding and darting through the water, skating up ripples, braking in a flurry of spray. They sprang into the air as a peregrine came flickering from inland. By the time he reached the pond they were halfway across the estuary, their soft calls like a chime of distant hounds.’

The ability to rocket vertically on take-off explains the collective noun, a ‘spring’ of teal. Teal jumping out of the reeds. As ever, the duck leads is the title of an early oil painting by Peter Scott.

Conversely, drakes lead the migration. Teal are monogamous, but change mates annually. As they are surface-feeders, ice is their enemy; a freeze inland will see them more than ever ‘steal’ to water protected by rushes or shielding banks. When they spring from such hidden places, even the wiliest hunter may be taken by surprise. Their test as a quarry is as admired as their meat – the rival of grouse or woodcock. A third the size of a mallard, teal is a perfect portion for one. Here’s John Clare again:

…Yet instinct knows Not safety’s bounds to shun The firmer ground where skulking fowler goes With searching dogs and gun

Grey of Fallodon found teal the most difficult ducks to tame. Still, as nature-reserve visitors know, a spring can float obligingly near hides and footpaths.