Male and female mandarins on the Wendover Canal...

Although this species usually nests in cavities in trees, along the canal I have found their nests in rough vegetation on the ground. I remember one particularly beautiful May morning standing on the tow path and feeling a movement on my foot: a newly-hatched mandarin duckling was nestling against me for support while its parents looked warily at me. Outside the breeding season they often form flocks of up to twenty, perched high up in the trees between Wharf Road and the school....