There can be no more colourful and flamboyant exotic-looking duck the male Mandarin.

His courtship routine is equally spectacular as groups of drakes fully erect their head feathers in gorgeous posturing and rapidly chase one another, emitting contrasting high-pitched whistles with hollow ‘woompas’!

Females watch and swim in circles — no doubt ‘sizing up’ prospective mates.

Now is the time to watch the activity and Bushy Park is the place to be.

While the male is ultra handsome, the female is also attractive in an understated way with greyish-brown, partly-mottled plumage and a distinctive cream eye-stripe.

Pairing takes place during autumn but nesting begins in April and lakes overhung with bushes such as rhododendrons are favourite places, such as in Bushy Park’s Isabella plantation.

Like many ducks, mandarins nest in tree holes like oaks or occasionally on the ground.

There are more mandarins in Britain than in their native Japan, it is estimated. They were introduced to Britain in about 1700 and many escaped from private collections, thereafter slowly spreading in the southern half of the country.