The ground loop is part of the energy supply source and is how your heat pump harvests heat for your home. Keep reading to find out our top five tips for maximizing the efficiency of your geothermal heat pump. Most of these descend from the mallard but may look very different to wild mallards.Geothermal heating and cooling is the most efficient way to keep your home at a comfortable temperature year round – but are you doing everything you can to maximize your heat pump’s efficiency? From the initial installation to operation techniques, to yearly maintenance, there are a slew of ways to eek out a little more efficiency from your heat pump. You might also encounter escaped (or, sadly, dumped) domestic ducks, of the kinds usually kept for eggs or meat, or just as pets. The UK populations of Egyptian goose, mandarin and red-crested pochard all derive from escaped birds. These birds are kept from straying by having the flight feathers cut short on one wing, but the feathers do regrow each year and without careful attention, some birds manage to escape. Here in the UK there are many zoos and parks that keep collections of exotic wildfowl from all over the world. Sometimes – in fact quite often – you will find a duck that isn’t in the books. What other species of ducks can be found in the UK? However, even small parkland lakes will often attract a few extra migrant ducks in winter. At the best, richest feeding areas they will gather in huge, mixed-species flocks. Diving ducks dive right under the surface and actively swim underwater, taking food from the bottom or chasing prey through the water.īecause their food tends to be abundant in particular places, ducks look for other ducks when they are on the wing and in search of a place to forage. Dabbling ducks stay on the surface, and dip their bills into the water – they may also dip in their whole heads or ‘up-end’ to reach deeper, but they don’t actually fully submerge. We often divide up the ducks into two categories by the way that they find their food. Goldeneye ( Bucephala clangula) – 200 pairs/27,000 birds - native.Velvet scoter ( Melanitta fusca) – none/2,500 birds – native.Common scoter ( Melanitta nigra) – 52 pairs / 100,000 birds – native.Eider ( Somateria mollissima) – 26,000 pairs/60,000 birds – native.

Long-tailed duck ( Clangula hyemalis) – none/11,000 birds – native.

Smew ( Meregllus albellus) – none/180 birds –native.Red-breasted merganser ( Mergus serrator) – 2,800 pairs/9,000 birds – native.Mandarin ( Aix galericulata) – 2,300 pairs/7,000 birds – introduced.Scaup ( Aythya collaris) – 1-2 pairs/5,200 birds – native.Red-crested pochard ( Netta rufina) – 10-21 pairs/500 words – introduced (also occurs naturally as a wanderer from mainland Europe).Pochard ( Aythya ferina) – 681 pairs/38,000 pairs – native.Garganey ( Spatula querquedula) – 12-93 pairs/none – native.Teal ( Anas crecca) – 2,100 pairs/210,000 birds – native.Gadwall ( Mareca strepera) – 1,200 pairs/25,000 birds – native (though numbers increased by releases of captive birds).Pintail ( Anas acuta) – 9-33 pairs/29,000 birds – native.Shoveler ( Spatula clypeata) – 700 pairs/18,000 birds – native.Wigeon ( Mareca penelope) – 400 pairs/440,000 birds – native.Mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos) – 61,000-146,000 pairs/710,000 birds – native (though numbers increased by releases and escapes of farmyard and pet ducks).Shelduck ( Tadorna tadorna) – 15,000 pairs/61,000 birds – native.Egyptian goose ( Alopochen aegytpiaca) – 1,100 pairs/3,400 birds – introduced.Species ( scientific name) – breeding population/wintering population – native or introduced:

Speeding the geo duck