Common pochard and small populations are sometimes observed on the River Thames. Large numbers stay overwinter in Great Britain, after the birds retreat from Russia and Scandinavia. These are gregarious birds, forming large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks such as the tufted duck, with which they are known to hybridise. These birds feed mainly by diving or dabbling. They eat aquatic plants with some molluscs, aquatic insects and small fish. They often feed at night, and will up-end for food as well as the more characteristic diving. In number of countries the population of Common Pochard is decreasing
The Bird Lover The Bird Lover The Bird Lover, also known as The Prince as Bird, is a type of narrative structure in folklore, no. 432 in the Aarne–Thompson classification system. In the typical version of story, a woman acquires a bird lover—a nobleman in the shape of a bird—who is wounded by means of a trap set by the woman's husband, such as a set of sharp points set up outside the woman's window. She follows the wounded bird's trail, cures him, and then marries him. An example of the motif is found in one of Marie de France's "Lais", "Yonec", though