I’ve been holding off posting about this handsome drake Mandarin duck, hoping to get better photos. He was first spotted on the River Ely in Cardiff a few days before the Hobbies appeared – I saw him on 25 September – but he has subsequently proved to be very elusive, frequently disappearing in amongst the reed beds, especially when there were quite a few birders on the opposite bank watching the Hobbies’ aerial displays.

Thinking he might reappear once the Hobbies flew south and activity in the area died down, I went for another look a couple of days ago, but failed to find him. He was associating with a group of Mallards, and his provenance may well be dubious – Mandarins often escape from wildfowl collections in parks – but he wasn’t ringed, and there is a wild population in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire, not too far from Cardiff as the duck flies.