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 lai develops somewhat differently: instead of a happy ending, the lai ends in tragedy. A "sophisticated rationalization" of the type is found in Chrétien de Troyes's "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart", where Lancelot appears at Guinevere's heavily barred window and cuts his fingers bending the bars back. In French scholarship, this type is often referred to as ""loiseau bleu"" or "the blue bird", so named for a story by Madame d'Aulnoy. 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