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

[AlanThePig]

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.

They've grown so big!
How long do you think you'll have left with them...I assume they'll all fly off somewhere? ( Mind you, if they have any sense they'll stay put. They're living a life of luxury )

@BarbarasStripedHands

They've grown so big! How long do you think you'll have left with them...I assume they'll all fly off somewhere? ( Mind you, if they have any sense they'll stay put. They're living a life of luxury )

I'd reckoned they would go around Christmas Day, that sort of time, but they haven't yet started trying to fly and their wings seem a bit stumpy still, so might be into the new year.

They should go, ducks are quite clever about interbreeding so do leave their home pond. The thing concerning me at present though is bird flu, but again, Its not something I can influence sadly.

It's the Ducktanic!

Ah yeah bird flu. Is it in your area?

It’s in ours and apparently swans are a big victim at the moment

There’s posts saying dead swans are spotted. Do not touch but contact DEFRA.

So sad

I've not heard of any cases @Soubriquet but we've had warnings in the local press. Its all rather sad.

Everything crossed for the ducklings @alanthepig

My mum (85!) loves the pictures I send. And as I haven't seen her since March it's lovely to be able to share this with her. She "supervised" a whole family of baby hedgehogs in her garden as they grew up and left home this year. I'm sure she wasn't as proud of me and my brother as she was of them

Just been out to do a few things and followed by my merry little band. No sign of Egwina or Duncan today, but lets be honest at this size they aren't really needed.
Dot was, as always, at the front of them. Now she's bigger I'm not actually sure she is a she, but for now 'they' remain Dot.

A pic for @RedRosie 's Mum. Dot in the middle. We did have a hog too, he was lovely. Not seen him for a while but someone once told me if you have a badger they tend to keep the hedgehog populations down so not sure how true that is. I'd love a hedgehog family! Maybe I could persuade DH to making me a hog house as well..... 😂

Aren't I lucky! I thought I'll check for updates and here's a beautiful photo to enjoy They are fully grown up and looking gorgeous

I saw this article/video
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9026185/amp/Video-ducks-stepping-snow-rushing-goes-viral.html

& thought of @AlanThePig's Duckworth-Pond family

Just lovely @AlanThePig. My Mum will love that photo. She's a huge bird fan but can only see the feeders from her chair mostly, these days.

Thanks so much. You have no idea how grateful some of us are for this thread.

Wow they've got so big

Any updates @AlanThePig?

I'm genuinely going to be very sad when they fledge and we have no more lovely updates! This thread has been so comforting and lovely

@Thirty2andBlue

Any updates *@AlanThePig*?

I'm genuinely going to be very sad when they fledge and we have no more lovely updates! This thread has been so comforting and lovely

They are just fine. They have started to scoot across the pond now flapping wings, flight practice. I keep trying to film this but if I go out they stop and head over for food so I’ve been trying to capture it through the lounge window.

Unfortunately every time I’ve got there the buggers have stopped. I shall keep trying!

😂 giving you the run around as ever!!

Oooh. Film would be amazing @AlanThePig! No pressure :-)

Although I'm imagining how I might show it to Mum as she's a bit random with the tech side of things. We've trained her up on Zoom (although it's a bit hit and miss, and very funny) so I might be able to show her over that. We often have to phone as well because she mutes herself by accident then can't find the right button again.

Every day a school day!

I'll upload to the same sharing site as last time if I can capture them so you should just be able to send the link.

Probably be Monday rather than tomorrow is tomorrow is the worst day of the year for me, the last Grand Prix. I am utterly obsessed with F1 and I hate the down season.

I might make myself a hot chocolate and go sit down in the arbour on Monday and quietly watch....

:-) Thank you @AlanThePig No rush!

Sharing a link might cause kerfuffle (my Mum is a bit challenged by this sort of thing) ... But I can screen share via Zoom although she then starts asking which button she's pressed by mistake. Sounds gruesome but actually we all usually end up laughing at the madness of it all.

I hope it's not too cold where you are. Here in London it's 'nice weather for ducks' - ie pouring with rain but not too cold.

@RedRosie

:-) Thank you *@AlanThePig* No rush!

Sharing a link might cause kerfuffle (my Mum is a bit challenged by this sort of thing) ... But I can screen share via Zoom although she then starts asking which button she's pressed by mistake. Sounds gruesome but actually we all usually end up laughing at the madness of it all.

I hope it's not too cold where you are. Here in London it's 'nice weather for ducks' - ie pouring with rain but not too cold.

It's horrible here. Driving rain and really windy. They are all huddled and frankly I don't blame them. Looks better weather tomorrow so hopefully I can get out there. I'm sending DH out to feed them today

My Mum sounds much the same as yours, she's not with us anymore but her grasp of technology was always the cause of hilarity. She sounds lovely.

She is lovely. Very sweet. Bewildered by what's going on ... The thought of her struggling with a walking frame, her glasses and a wretched mask to get to the tiny local co-op (which she insists on doing as she wants to choose her own food, there's no stopping her) is heartbreaking. She never complains. Roll on the vaccines.

She loves wildlife though. As well as hedgehogs there are field mice, passing rabbits and millions of birds (which she overfeeds) in her garden. She watches them for hours from her chair and takes huge pleasure from it.

Still not managed to get a video but did manage to capture lots of wing stretching earlier. I assume they are trying to up their strength for their eventual departure.

Aww I’ll bet you’ll miss them when they go and counting down the days when a new clutch will appear

@Soubriquet

Aww I’ll bet you’ll miss them when they go and counting down the days when a new clutch will appear

My MIL said this earlier, we'd walked over Tesco together and when we got back they were waiting for me. They all start quacking excitedly and followed me up the drive. MIL thought it hilarious and said what a shame they will all go and I'd miss them. And I shall, you are both right.

Not seen Duncan and Egwina today, not that this lot need them now anyway. I expect they will be home for tea 😂

What a lovely picture, they look fully grown-up! It will be sad when they go.

We have visitors. I’m not feeding them and they can piss off back to whence they came. 😂

Not a fan of Canada geese then. I know they're quite vocal and messy but they are handsome birds. I expect they'll go when THEY feel like it. Be prepared for more of them in the meantime.