What's New at Ramsar

UK moves to control ruddy ducks

The UK has announced a major trial of control measures aimed at reducing numbers of the North American ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), an invasive exotic species, whose spread from Britain into continental Europe poses a severe threat to the closely related white-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala), a native of Mediterranean wetlands. The UK ruddy duck population, the product of 1950s introductions from collections of exotic waterbirds, has reached around 4,000 birds, with increasing numbers being reported from continental Europe, including Spain and Turkey, the two most important European countries for white-headed ducks.

This threatens the eradication of the white-headed duck by genetic 'pollution', since the two species (isolated geographically from each other under natural circumstances) hybridise readily, producing fertile young, and male ruddy ducks are dominant over male white-headed ducks when competing for females. Ironically, this threat comes at a time when wetland restoration and management measures in Spain have led to a recovery in white-headed duck numbers to around 1,000 birds, from an all-time low of just 22 in 1977 (the current world population is estimated to number 16,400 at best).

A number of Spain's Ramsar sites are of special importance for the species, and an EU-funded re-introduction programme is currently underway at a Ramsar site in Corsica (France). The Spanish authorities, other European governments, and international organizations such as BirdLife International have been pressing the UK to take action. The trial ruddy duck control measures announced by the UK will begin this spring and include a programme of shooting, as well as humane trapping of nesting females, and will evaluate whether the species can be eradicated in the UK within ten years.

-- reported by Tim Jones, Regional Coordinator for Europe

For further information, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 6 February 1999, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.