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Original poster

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...

969 replies

AlanThePig · 18/10/2020 15:12

Some of you might recall we have a rather large pond in our garden. On it we have a pair of ducks. First day of lockdown appeared ten, beautiful ducklings. They grew up, flew away and that was that until next spring.

Except I woke up to this......
There are ten more (seven in this photo) and I can only assume the warm weather has thoroughly confused her.

I'm now going spend the next few months fretting over bloody wildlife.

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...
OP posts:
Thread gallery
87
Princessbanana · 24/10/2020 19:27

This is one of the nicest threads I’ve come across ever on Mumsnet! Would love to have this in my garden, I don’t think I’d ever clean the house if this was outside though!😁

Original poster
AlanThePig · 24/10/2020 18:14

@Soubriquet

I bet someone got fed up of their pet fish and decided to “set them free”
I suspect so. We've had neighbours knock on in the past and ask to put frogs etc in and the lady next door closed her pond over this summer so transferred me some lovely lily pads so I can imagine people throwing in their pets.

The goldfish seem to come to the surface nearest the house when the weather gets colder. Plan is this year to try and catch as many as we can and rehome them to a neighbour who has an ornamental pond.

Been a fair bit colder here today and Ive watched Egwina tuck the babies under her as much as she can, they have grown quickly though and are a week old tomorrow.

OP posts:
Someonesayroadtrip · 24/10/2020 15:05

Wow. What a lovely post. Hope they do ok OP. loving all the photos and updates. 😃

Soubriquet · 24/10/2020 14:53

I bet someone got fed up of their pet fish and decided to “set them free”

Original poster
AlanThePig · 24/10/2020 14:22

I'm not sure the geese will come back. It was a fleeting thing this year, not seen them before or since. They possibly reside on a pond at the golf course up the road so hopefully they will stay there.

Unsure who put the goldfish in, but they have been in many years judging by the size of them. Neither DH or I fish but from what we gather it's mostly roach and rudd in there. We have had a camera under the water which was enormous fun and there are so many tiny little fishies! We want to keep it as natural as possible, not in the least because we have frogs, newts and toads in there that could all be unbalanced.

The pond didn't add anything to the house price really. We bought it privately via the owners so no EA involved, basically sat down over a coffee, the owner said next door sold for X 18 months ago is that ok? We said yes and bought the house (we hadn't actually seen inside it at that time we agreed to buy, we'd just fallen in love with the pond so the inside didn't matter).
It's a marmite thing though, I can see lots of people would absolutely hate it, especially with young kids.

Anyway, ducklings. Growing fast, still ten and they seem to love duck island now!

OP posts:
RedRosie · 24/10/2020 14:00

A lovely thread indeed, for dark times. Flowers

Soubriquet · 24/10/2020 13:49

Some added goldfish to your pond?

So they see it as a communal pond or something?

BigBadBox · 24/10/2020 13:19

I love this thread. If you don't mind me asking OP, did the pond add much to your house price? Just something vague like double the price of next door or an extra 5%
I'm quite fancying my own large pond Grin

steppemum · 24/10/2020 13:02

I think you nwill find your Canada Geese come bakc in the next month, and spend the winter with you

Original poster
AlanThePig · 23/10/2020 17:06

@MissTheodore

Herons have such a malevolent look about them. The child catcher of the avian world.
Indeed. I do love watching him normally though. At some point someone introduced goldfish in the pond, which we really don't want so if he comes and pulls one or two out its a good day!

(pic from before I painted the duck house over the summer)

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...
OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 23/10/2020 16:46

Duck Granny 😂😂😂

Love their fluffy butts so much 😍😍😍

MissTheodore · 23/10/2020 16:44

Herons have such a malevolent look about them. The child catcher of the avian world.

Original poster
AlanThePig · 23/10/2020 16:37

@steppemum

your Canada geese may have migrated? But I thought they came ot us in the winter...
Looking back through my photos this was the last I have of them (bullying Duncan as well!) and that was mid April. Not seen them since then.

Still ten happily. Came home earlier to the heron sitting on the bank and ended up diving out of the car and chasing it off 😂

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...
OP posts:
steppemum · 23/10/2020 14:17

your Canada geese may have migrated? But I thought they came ot us in the winter...

PurpleDaisies · 22/10/2020 20:52

A farm next door growing up had moor hens on their pond. Baby ones are the cutest things ever.

Loving these ducklings though.

Horsemad · 22/10/2020 20:50

Cute photo. 🙂

For quite a few years we used to get Greylag geese in our garden - one year we had 14!
Rarely see them now, though we do have tawny owls; I heard them last night.

Original poster
AlanThePig · 22/10/2020 15:59

@Bargebill19

Op thank you for sharing with us! It’s a lovely thread. That is one fabulous pontoon and ducky house. Mrs duck choose very well when looking for a new slave!! I hope they give you as much pleasure as they are to us. I’ll happily be a neighbour and have visiting ducks! We have a family of swans, two ducks, a hedge full of various birds and some otters. (We are canal based).
Swans are my dream. I would be thrilled. Moorhens too actually. Funnily enough when we first spotted the house for sale and did a drive by there were four or five lovely little moorhens on here. They were gone when we moved in and we haven't seen a single one since. We did have a pair of Canada Geese at one point but I had to stop feeding them as I found myself out every night cleaning up after them and they started to get quite hissy when we came out of the front door. They were also bullying Egwina a bit so they were instantly cut off. Not seen them for a while happily.

How lovely to be beside a canal, watching life go by. I'd love that. Very special thing to have a body of water so close and to enjoy watching the life it supports.

OP posts:
Bargebill19 · 22/10/2020 15:52

Op thank you for sharing with us! It’s a lovely thread. That is one fabulous pontoon and ducky house. Mrs duck choose very well when looking for a new slave!! I hope they give you as much pleasure as they are to us.
I’ll happily be a neighbour and have visiting ducks! We have a family of swans, two ducks, a hedge full of various birds and some otters. (We are canal based).

OooErrThor · 22/10/2020 13:50

What a lovely thread, Egwina is definitely in Duck heaven Grin

Original poster
AlanThePig · 22/10/2020 13:38

@Soubriquet

People actually worried about ducks in their garden?

That’s strange.

Ducks are everywhere here but the town is built on a river so I guess it makes sense

I think because we're quite urban it's not something they can imagine. I really had to convince one lady that the duck would fly and roost somewhere safely overnight as she was adamant it would just sit in the garden and be eaten.
Another had one trapped and was feeding it cornflakes, convinced it was a lost pet.

It's strange because as urban as we are this little corner is near to fields so we see badgers, foxes and hedgehogs as well as the more unusual things like herons and a kingfisher. People on the local estates cant imagine such things.

And welcome @Ducksurprise I really should have chosen a less porcine name myself 😂

OP posts:
Ducksurprise · 22/10/2020 13:33

It's amazing. I remember your CF post and seeing pictures but not being able to imagine it. Love the photo with your neighbours house as can now really see what you mean. PS as it now seems weird, but I was Ducksurprise before this thread Grin

Soubriquet · 22/10/2020 13:23

People actually worried about ducks in their garden?

That’s strange.

Ducks are everywhere here but the town is built on a river so I guess it makes sense

Original poster
AlanThePig · 22/10/2020 13:14

@Ducksurprise

This is not a pond. Most definitely a lake.

Is it man made?

Aww feel better soon @forrestgreen Flowers

In total it’s about 120ft at its widest and reasonably round. Took a boat out over summer and found it to be 15 to 20ft deep in parts. It’s natural, spring fed and we can find it on maps back to the early 1800s.

The street was built around it when the farmland it was on was sold. Initially the pond was destined to be communal but the local wildlife trust reasoned it would be neglected so it was put in within our house.

It raises eyebrows, not in the least when people get to the end of a very early 2000s street and suddenly come face to face with it. It’s a bit unexpected 😂

OP posts:
wheresmymojo · 22/10/2020 13:02

Definitely following this thread, the ducklings are lovely!

HerculePoirotsGreyCells · 22/10/2020 12:58

Gorgeous duck family