Below high water mark Scotland

The common pochard (Aythya ferina) is a medium-sized, compact diving duck reaching a body length of about 42 to 49 centimetres, a wingspan of around 72 to 82 centimetres and a weight of roughly 700 to 1100 grams. Drakes in breeding plumage display a bright chestnut head and neck, a black breast, a finely vermiculated pale grey back and flanks and a black stern. The dark bill carries a characteristic pale blue-grey band and the iris is a deep red. Females are far more subdued, mostly greyish-brown with paler patches behind the eye and at the base of the bill. As is typical for diving ducks the pochard sits low in the water with a heavy body, a short tail and powerful legs set far back. It differs from the similarly built tufted duck by the absence of a crest, the chestnut head and the pale grey rather than black back.

The common pochard is a typical diver and prefers larger, shallow and nutrient-rich standing waters with well-developed submerged vegetation and a substantial reed and emergent vegetation belt along the shore. Classic habitats include lakes, oxbows, fish ponds, clarification ponds, reservoirs and shallow coastal lagoons. A wide reed fringe or densely vegetated islands serve as essential cover for breeding. The species forages mainly by diving and takes aquatic plants, seeds, mussels, snails, insect larvae, crustaceans, worms and occasionally small fish. Across most of its range the common pochard is a partial or short-distance migrant. Birds from north-eastern Europe and Siberia winter in large numbers on ice-free inland waters and coasts of Central and Western Europe, around the Mediterranean, in North Africa and on through southern and eastern Asia. In the DACH region the species occurs both as a local breeder and, in clearly higher numbers, as a winter visitor that gathers on large ice-free lakes.

Common pochard populations have declined sharply across Europe since the 1990s. The main drivers are habitat loss, deteriorating water quality, succession and changing management of fish ponds, low breeding success caused by predation, lead poisoning and disturbance in breeding and resting areas. The IUCN classifies the common pochard globally as Vulnerable, and the German Red List of breeding birds also lists the species as threatened. From a hunting perspective the pochard is included in Annex II/A of the EU Birds Directive and is therefore in principle a huntable species across the member states. German federal hunting law lists the species as quarry, but the actual open and closed seasons are set by each federal state and differ significantly. In several federal states, for example North Rhine-Westphalia, the common pochard is protected throughout the year, and Austria and Switzerland likewise apply their own regional rules. Given the ongoing decline, conservation bodies and the international waterbird community call for clear restraint in hunting and for careful identification before the shot. Notes on safe identification, on separation from similar species such as tufted duck, ferruginous duck and red-crested pochard and on the open season currently valid for your hunting ground can be found in the regional regulations and in the MyHunt app.