Ruff

Above and below: Ruff (winter)

The ruff is mainly a winter visitor or passage migrant to the UK. A few are resident but these are mostly found well south and east of my local patch. It's a pity because the birds are really bizarre in their breeding plumage. They sport a ruff or collar of long extravagant feathers which can be black, white, brown or every shade in between. When they lose these long feathers in winter, they often retain a neck colour in the same shade as their flamboyant summer feathers.

In winter, when we are far more likely to see these birds in the North West, they are much more ordinary in appearance. In fact, they can be quite hard to identify. This is due to the fact that they can be quite variable in colour. The feathers on the back and wings are dark brown grey with paler buff edges and the neck, face and breast are plain and usually washed with a rich buff. This fades to white at the vent. The crown is generally darker often with some back to front streaks. The legs are orange or red and sometimes have a slight greenish tinge. Some individuals can be noticeably paler or darker than others making id uncertain. The best clue is that the head looks too small for the body and the dark or black beak curves slightly downward.

Over wintering birds, generally stay close to the coast but can also be found on freshwater pools slightly inland. Here in the North West you can find them at Marshside RSPB in Southport, at Inner Marsh Farm RSPB near Burton in Cheshire and at Martin Mere WWT near Rufford in Lancashire. The best time to look is late summer, autumn and through to early winter. At all three of these sites you may well get a good photo opportunity, but the best of these for Ruff is Martin Mere. Here from the Swanlink Hide in particular, you can get really close views of Ruff feeding by the waters edge, just in front of the hide. If you go in late August, you may be lucky enough to find a few early migrants have arrived and you may be even luckier if there is a male or two still sporting their outrageous feather collar.