Rubber duck guide tickles birdwatchers at Loch of Mey

The rubber duck card is among guides to real wild birds such as rare Greenland white-fronted goose

An identification card for a blue rubber duck is entertaining birdwatchers at a bird hide at an important wildlife site.

The hide managed by the Scottish Ornithological Society is at Loch of Mey, near John O'Groats in Caithness.

Rare Greenland white-fronted geese and large numbers of whooper swans roost at the loch.

The tongue-in-cheek card was added when the hide's ID guides were renewed by a Highland Council countryside ranger.

'Bath-time'

The duck ID card is well-known to ornithologists and amateur birdwatchers who visit the hide, but has gained wider popularity after a wildlife enthusiast posted a photograph of it to Facebook.

The card's information details include rubber duck behaviour - "some dabble, some dive" - and plumage, which is described as "uniformly of any single colour, yellow, blue and red being the commonest".

It also says "silly facial expressions are a key identification feature".

Silly facial expressions is a key identification feature for rubber ducks

The loch is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and also one of a group of lochs that form part of the Caithness Lochs Ramsar site.

Wintering flocks of whooper swans and geese are drawn to Loch of Mey, and the other lochs, because of diverse aquatic vegetation.

Mary Legg, a former countryside ranger who has a close involvement with the bird hide, said: "I've seen no rubber ducks on the loch. I probably need to get down there at bath-time."