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.

@Santaiscovidfree

Lovely to catch up op!! As the dm of adult dc it doesn't get less stressful just because they have left home! You will still worry!! Congratulations on a job bloody well done! And to your dh for his groundsman role!!

I have 2 adult DC myself, both of which have left home now. Our DD was supposed to move with us when we came here but her partner got himself a job in Milton Keynes and off they went to make a start down there. DS meanwhile was aghast at the idea of us selling his childhood home and bought it from us, so we left home rather than him, something I'm still chuckling over.

Be interesting to see how many we have in the morning!

Love the story about your son OP 🤭

Aww, that's so sweet that your son bought his childhood home! ❤️

That's amazing your son bought the house! Be interesting going to visit him. Hehe!

how fab that they returned !

Just wondered might this thread disappear in a few days?

It's nice really him still being there, DH and I lived there 26 years before we moved so DS has never really known anywhere else. I also feel compelled to send Christmas cards to the old neighbours as I still see them so I now have two streets worth....

We have four ducks today, 2 breeding pairs by the looks of it. I'd usually expect some animosity between couples but these seem quite happy in each others company so I'm wondering if one of the newcomers is from our clutch in March.

@Skipsurvey we moved from 30 days so it wont disappear until full, when that happens I'll start another thread.

Will you need another duck house if there's two pairs

@forrestgreen

Will you need another duck house if there's two pairs

I was thinking about this earlier. I think if we build the main one square, rather than the hexagonal I'd planned, and divide it into two we could house two nests. There is also the possibility of creating a floating plant island which would also offer nesting areas, I've seen this done with drain pipe and hessian.

At this rate you will have a duck colony!!

@RandomMess

At this rate you will have a duck colony!!

It's been snowing here all day, not sticking yet but I guess when the temperatures drop later it might well. Cant see any of them staying if we refreeze as badly as last week.

I could find this thread at all so had to do a wee shout out for it.
These ducks are certainly keeping you on your toes!
Such a heart warming thread!

Yay they're back

@fizzyp0p

Yay they're back

They are! Photo from yesterday, you can spot Egwina on the left. She's rather well fed 😂

Lovely!

@AlanThePig! I thought it was all over and had pottered off sadly, but they're back!

Here's to a 2021 full of ducks. Expertly chronicled. With many pictures.

Goodness knows we all need the hope and new life.

I have a sneaking suspicion 2021 might bring more ducks than we bargained for.
Egwina and Duncan are still here but so is the smaller female (who's just called dot now whether she is or isn't the original dot) and her male.

Usually when we've had other visiting pairs our two have given them pretty short shift and they fly off within hours, these two, although not exactly welcomed are tolerated.
Some snappy chasing going on at mealtimes, Egwina let's them know she's first for food, but they seem content to share the space.

Plan is to refloat the original house as soon as the weather is fit to pull it out and fit new foam, then get the new one (of which dh is still in th e process of ordering wood for) out there as well because I can see two nests coming here.

In other news I think our fox might have been trapped and killed. Not seen him since before Christmas and out local police have warned they have caught people trapping foxes and badgers in the area.
Badge wasn't a regular visitor so can't be sure about him, but even in the snow we didn't have fox footprints where they usually are so I fear the worst.
I've found myself glued to the cctv for the last two evenings hoping to spot him.
People are such bastards.

Exciting news on the prospective duck town.

Sad news about the fox and the badger.

I suspect you'll have a whole duck village in the spring and you may need more than one house!

We had snow again last night, which was somewhat interesting as it was the middle of Storm Christoph and raining like I've never seen it rain. This suddenly turned to snow around 9pm.
This was good because it meant when I went out to feed the ducks this morning I noticed a set of tracks in the general direction the fox travels. Came in, studied the CCTV and there he was. Great relief. Even better, a friend captured old badge on her CCTV in the night so looks like the trappers didn't get them.

The water levels are increasing dramatically. I've been taking a photo a day and the difference daily is worrying to say the least. It's not flooded yet, but I admit it's starting to concern me more than my usual jokes about it.

In other news a lady sent me a photo of the pond from the 60's yesterday. It's fabulous to see the area before the estate and I've managed to work out the exact spot it was taken from. I posted it up on the blog.

Ducks all present and correct too!

Added a photo of the end of the pier taken from CCTV as it's a camera that doesn't change position. The difference in that level was 24 hours..

Hurrah for the fox! 🦊

I hope you don't flood ... I think it's calmer overnight and tomorrow?

Wonder if you near my eldest!! They tried to evacuate her at 2.30am but they slept through the emergency services banging on the door! Fortunately they didn't flood, snow has melted and water receded a bit!

Just read this whole thread, it's lovely .

It's a joy to come here for updates Hope everybody's doing fine: you, the ducks, the fox and the badger