April05

Monday, 4th

Our little troop of runners is getting more and more adventurous, going ever further afield. On the photo on the right they are at the very top of the big field, barely visible, which is why I have "encircled" them in white.

Many's the time I can't see them anywhere in field or garden or either pond, and then, sometimes half an hour or more later, I see them filing back from the "water meadows" next door.

I've actually seen them go next door when I was busy in or near the ditch. Led by Gertie, they came down the steps Em and I made by the side of the 'three-armed oak', crossed the big puddle in the ditch in a straight line, and slipped under the barbed wire fence into the grassland next door. They must have done this frequently as a proper little path has been worn. The white arrows in the picture on the right indicate their route. The little tykes. I just hope they don't organize any weekend shooting parties next door!

I suspect this habit started when they were pursuing the waterhens. John saw them one day lined up and staring into the huge pile of uprooted hedge and trees (when next door made the new fence they had to clear a lot of the old growth first) where a waterhen had disappeared.

As the ducks are so keen on chasing waterhens John suggested, laughingly, that we make a model of one in order to lure the ducks out of their pond at night - since Spring has sprung we have had awful trouble again trying to get them "into bed". Maybe John's idea isn't such a bad one .....

Wednesday, 6th

Something very exciting happened today. John had seen waves and bubbles in the fish pond, and on looking closer saw a waterhen in there - he could have grabbed its head when it surfaced! I didn't even know they could dive. John was worried in case they were after our fish, but after checking in web sites felt reassured that waterhens eat insects, larvae, spiders, worms and grain, not fish - not that I could read anywhere.

I was very excited. I had hoped the waterhens would come close to the house again, and got the camera out. After a little while I managed to snap (through the raindrops on the conservatory windows) one moorhen peeping out from under the "roof" tiles in the corner of the fish pond, just beside the marsh marigolds. In case you can't spot it on the larger picture on the right I have appended a smaller close-up. Was it making a nest there?

Then we saw another, near the stile, picking up nesting material and making it's way into the frog pond where it swam around for a while. Then it spotted us watching, cleared off towards the duck hut, and was 'rewarded' with a frantic chase by Rudolpho!

Friday, 8th

When was it I said I was looking forward to the day when we would get three eggs? Can't find it now. But it's happened! 3 eggs this morning, HURRAH!

Monday, 11th

3 eggs on Saturday and Sunday as well, but today we're back to two. I don't mind, really; can't be forever baking cakes and pickling jars full of eggs, and we mustn't eat too many per week..... cholesterol!

I noticed Gertie's performance of last year re-surfacing, the looking for nest sites bit. Saw her disappearing under three different shrubs with Rudolpho standing guard outside, chattering away. So far no "hidden" eggs, though.

Thursday, 14th

Had three eggs again this morning, and yesterday. Well done the ducks!

During the last 3 or 4 days we have seen our ducks venture into the garden near the road and behing the house ( - they've not yet found out that they can go right round the house and finish up by the fish pond).

They seem to be finding lots of snails. I took a photo of Eppi gobbling one up through the kitchen window (on the very right of this group of five):

Then I went out and took some more photos of them, here lined up in front of the camellias,

the "pom pom"tree,

and near the pergola where they are looking non-plussed as my presence with the camera cut off their retreat.

Tuesday, 19th

We're doing well with the eggs. I've taken a photo of the three from yesterday:
Useful for comparison. The one in the middle is Gertie's, I'm sure (because the one I got from her this morning was the same in colour and size), and the smallest one on the right I'm guessing is Fanny's, as she is the smallest duck.

There were just two eggs in the hut this morning, but immediately "on release" Gertie headed the string of 5 ducks in search for a nesting place, and after a few minutes I could see her from our bedroom window (through the branches of the philadelphus and forsythia) turning round and round and round while hollowing out a nest in the ivy on the ground. The other four waited for her nearby. I went downstairs to take a photo:

Gertie is behind the mound of ivy where the arrow is pointing.

After about ¼ hour the four got fed up with waiting and went off to the duck pond. Gertie went along even though she hadn't laid yet. But I did find her egg a little later - it was lying at the edge of the bog garden, just where John had found her egg on Friday morning, when it had been half eaten by some bird or other.

Wednesday, 20th

They say that runner ducks produce an egg every 25 hours or so. Gertie seems to have proved this. Again, she hadn't layed in the hut this morning. She spent some time looking for a suitable "nest site", couldn't find one to her liking, and dropped her egg there,
where the arrow is pointing - and that was 25 hours after she left the one at the edge of the bog garden.

Friday, 22nd

I don't believe in this "one egg every 25 hours" any more, come to think of it I should have realized this before when we had 3 eggs every morning for several days on the trot.

Yesterday we had just one. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and we spent most of it outside, gardening, also keeping an eye open for more eggs. We saw one mid-afternoon, on the duckhouse side of the pond - but there was a big hole in it and it had been eaten. This morning we had three again. I can't work it out!

As it was a lovely morning today we went out gardening quite early, a little after eight. I was weeding in the large wildflower bed near the duck pond, and saw lots of things I don't normally see. My attention was first drawn by Eppi, who was not around my feet like the others. She stood bolt upright and made a continuous noise, more like hooting than chattering or quacking. I hadn't seen a waterhen, but she obviously had. It popped up and sat on the branches, you can see it at the point of the arrow in the photo.
When I took the camera out in expectation of a chase a big rabbit hopped right in front of my lens. It took fright when it saw me (obviously the rabbits aren't used to seeing anyone in the garden at that time of the morning!) and hurried off into the field. Then another came, followed the first, and the ducks chased them instead of the waterhen.

A little while later I heard Eppi making a racket again. She had pulled herself up as tall as she could right in front of the waterhen, making continuous hooting calls as if to say: "Look, look, it's here again and it won't go away. Somebody come and chase it!" Of course, Rudolpho obliged and chased it out of sight. She was quiet then. She must have been on guard duty today, because shortly after she spotted the moorhen again, this time at the ditch near the duck hut. Same performance: racket, racket, racket until Rudolpho came and chased.

I saw the waterhens quite a lot today, one walking up the ramp into the duckhouse (John has panicked one inside the hut, at the food trough, on more than one occasion), two chasing each other near where the white arrow is, and ambling along picking up food in the meadows next door. I'm very fond of these little animals. There was a time when I thought our ducks were clever, but the waterhens seem to have a lot more brains than they - they outwit them every time there is a confrontation.

Monday, 25th

Rudolpho must have hurt himself. Whether he got too vigorous in his chasing of waterhens and tumbled down the steep slope at the back of the pond (where I've frequently seen a little "avalanche" of stones and bricks right into the big puddle at the bottom), or whether it happened during a fight with Valentino, I just don't know. But since Saturday I've noticed that his left wing is drooping, he's very slow in his movements, just not his usual self. He lags behind the others when they're going off somewhere, and Valentino has usurped his place as "top dog" in the company, i.e. looking busy and important, chasing what needs chasing, and escorting the "ladies".

Which brings me to my second topic, Gertie and her nesting mania. We knew she hadn't laid this morning, and as we didn't want the magpies eating her egg like they did yesterday I kept watch. Well, she is a fussy little madam. Closely followed and watched over by Valentino she investigated three likely spots near the garage, then moved to the road-side of the house (and I to another window) where she spent a long time underneath the lilac tree between the camellia and the 'pom pom' tree. I could see her coming out several times and then going in again, Valentino chattering away at her.

It mustn't have been the right spot for her after all, and she moved to the strip of ground next to the frog pond where she examined three spots several times, finally settling on one between two tufts of grasses. I could see her turning and kicking out soil with her feet again and again, bits of earth were flying all over the place. And then she did settle, I took a snap:
Valentino stayed nearby for a while, went for a swim, and eventually cleared off to follow Eppi and Fanny to the duck pond - poor Rudolpho making up a very slow rear.

I continued to watch Gertie in case she felt abandoned, followed the others and dropped her egg anywhere for the big birds to pinch. I saw her standing up, on the edge of the hollow she'd made, and the egg popped out and rolled into the new nest:
That happened at exactly 08.42, almost an hour after Gertie had come out of the hut looking urgent and desperate to lay.

Tuesday, 26th

A little post scriptum to yesterday's egg. I was early again in the garden, had the duck company around me, and could observe. About half past 9 I noticed Gertie getting restless again, and she went off on a nesting search accompanied by Valentino. This time she only stayed in the front garden for a short while, and soon came and settled in the hollow she had made yesterday. Great, I thought, I can keep an eye on her there. The other four didn't stay with her though; they went off to the duck pond. At 10 to 10 I went into the house to put the coffee on, throwing Gertie a few worms as I passed - she gobbled them up eagerly.

Coffee was ready at 10, and just as I was going to fetch John Gertie suddenly stood up in alarm and ran to the duck pond. I don't know what she had heard or seen. But she hadn't layed yet, and as I didn't want the magpies getting her egg again I went and busied myself in the wild flower patch. Would you believe it, five minutes later I saw the egg at the edge of the pond. It was very warm, clean and dry. I said thank you to Gertie, went back to the house, and put a marble egg into the hollow - maybe it'll encourage Gertie to lay there again? The coffee was still hot!

Rudolpho's wing is still drooping, but he seemed a bit livelier today, sparring with Valentino.