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.

@Soubriquet

Birds I have no idea on raising.

Hedgehogs on the other hand.. I’m a dab hand at

Had to bottle feed a baby that was about 10 days old and rehabilitate him

Oh thats amazing. I do love hogs. I was considering an albino pet one a few years ago but talked myself out of it. We did have a resident hog but not seen him for a while. I did leave food out but found when watching the camera footage that 90% of it was being eaten by the magpies and ravens so I stopped doing it.

Had to smile though, the lady runs the rescue in her back garden which is filled with paddling pools....looking on her facebook she mostly rescues ducks. ❤️

Awwwww sounds absorbable

Adorable

She rescued one from a local park that was found with severe burns. The Police apparently didn't know if this was an accidental or deliberate attack. She's a female mallard as well so that one choked me a bit. Happily she recovered and is now in a forever home where she'll be cared for.

Oh the poor thing

I hope she’s ok too

So Wildlife lady might be looking for someone with a large pond and a penchant for buying duck food that she could offload some of her recovered homeless ducks?

@CongealedCrags

So Wildlife lady might be looking for someone with a large pond and a penchant for buying duck food that she could offload some of her recovered homeless ducks?

I confess, the thought did cross my mind. I'm unsure what level of involvement is needed with rescue ducks. If it's a case of releasing, feeding and leaving to nature thats fine, but if it involves bringing them in at night etc it's probably a bit too much for us to take on.

Its certainly worth a chat with her though!

Small update, Ronald survived the night, is eating, drinking and flapping. She's sent me a photo of his cute little self face only a mother could love

Oh dear god

I wish I could say he was cute but he really isn’t

@Soubriquet

Oh dear god

I wish I could say he was cute but he really isn’t

Funny little things aren't they? "characterful" 😂

They grow up to be quite handsome I suppose

You will have to start doing a new thread for when Egwinas chicks hatch

and Gabby’s

Ronald has definitely got goose aspirations

Just discovered your thread today @AlanThePig - and so glad I did! What a brilliant pond you have and great narrative of all the goings on. I love the blog too. I’m hooked and I should actually be working ( I’m claiming poor internet connection for my lack of motivation this afternoon 😂)

@Waterfallgirl

Just discovered your thread today *@AlanThePig* - and so glad I did! What a brilliant pond you have and great narrative of all the goings on. I love the blog too. I’m hooked and I should actually be working ( I’m claiming poor internet connection for my lack of motivation this afternoon 😂)

Thank you! Happy to be your excuse. It's a horrid day, freezing here with snow on and off all day, I lack motivation when it's like this myself, especially when it's been T Shirt weather all weekend.

Egwina has just been over for dinner, never seen her move so quick. Think she was keen to get back in her house. Poor girl must be feeling sea sick by now as it's really been blown around.

Spoke to rescue lady who said she'll bear us in mind if she has anything that needs releasing (as long as its not geese!!!)

OP thank you for this thread - I love it so much! Please may I read your blog too?

@AgathaMystery

OP thank you for this thread - I love it so much! Please may I read your blog too?

Of course! Thank you ❤️

ayearonthepond.blogspot.com

Well, the good news is the Geese are now only overnighting here, I'm now reasonably confident that they will clear off altogether in the next few weeks following the pattern they have from previous years.
Egwina is still on her eggs and Ronald continues to do well. Duncan is a bit of a spare part at the moment so comes and goes (coming usually coincides with meal times!)

Put some leftover bread out on the front bird table earlier and noticed it was at the point of collapse. Quite rotten and not really up to supporting the larger magpies and rooks we get. In the absence of anything better to do today I raided what was left of the woodpile, found a bag of postcrete at the back of the garage and made myself a new table. I'm rather pleased with myself. I've planted an ivy at its base in the hope it will do what the fake ivy currently is. Probably put some bedding plants in around it as well come summer.

As soon as the geese are permanently gone I can start digging out my new bed around the side of the pond. At the moment they tend to sit right in the spot I want to put it so I'm in no doubt they would eat whatever I put in the gits.

I've been reading your thread over the past few days and I'm in love 😍 can't wait to hear about all the new ducklings that Egwina will hopefully bring into this world.

I'm also following your blog and Instagram 😂 it's making me so happy

So you wait for the ducks to come to you to feed them?
twitter.com/JohannaKoBe/status/1379147984487780354
No nest-service?

And- 16 eggs
On a seventh floor balcony

Egwina has it easy

*Apart from having to get off the nest for food.

@CongealedCrags

So you wait for the ducks to come to you to feed them? twitter.com/JohannaKoBe/status/1379147984487780354 No nest-service?

I'm sure DH is soft enough to do that if he could, especially as it would give him an excuse to piss about in his little boat to get there.

She was doing a little spring cleaning earlier, I could make out eggs moved to one side of the house whilst she rearranged the nest, I then watched her carefully return the eggs and get cosy again.

Annoyingly I didn't make a note of when I first realised she was back in there so I cant work out when they are due. If I had to guess I'd say she's been on for about 2 weeks so halfway there perhaps.

Oh please please take lots of photos when if your DH does start to row over to the island with a bag of food

16 balcony ducklings! Egwina has some catching up to do!

@CongealedCrags

16 balcony ducklings! Egwina has some catching up to do!

Oh thats amazing! I bet they all survive too because they will be quite protected up there. Must present issues though, how do they get to water? How does she do the flying lessons etc? Ducks really will nest anywhere.

I think any excuse and he'll be in the boat. Last year he spent hours fishing it with a magnet. He eventually found a 10p coin (I think it was 10p) that DS had thrown in challenging him to find..... Annoyingly, I'd ordered a load of fake Roman Coins from China, I posted about it at the time, for him to find. Seemed a brilliant joke until I realised none of them were magnetic. Other suggestions were a metal ring on a plastic skeletal hand...... I will revisit some of these suggestions when he's back in the office and I can sneak such stuff in the water.