Every year in April some of the local wild Mallard ducks choose a spot in our garden to lay their eggs. This year a lovely white duck and her sister nested side by side in the foliage under the oak tree right in front of my garden studio. I watched them sitting tight on their eggs for a few weeks. It seems that something else was watching them too…
The minute the eggs hatched the ducklings were eaten. Every last one of them. We know it wasn’t the snoozy dog!
We have hedgehogs, squirrels, foxes, crows, jays, herons and owls in the garden and they all have young to feed. Two nice big nests full of newly hatched chicks must have seemed too good to be true. After the loss of their day old ducklings both of the white ducks made themselves scarce for a while. Eventually they returned and got into the habit of tapping on our patio doors for breakfast around 7am and tea at 5pm. We were happy to feed them of course.
It’s late in the season for ducklings but at least one of the white ducks has nested again. Here’s the result. Ten lovely ducklings. We are thrilled to bits especially as there are little dark ducklings this time… a colouration we haven’t seen before. The white ducks were both bright yellow all over when they hatched out here a few years ago.
I hope the mother duck can keep this batch safe from hungry predators this time. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
