April10

Thursday, 29th

On Sunday we had the same arrangements as Saturday, leaving the 7 in their enclosure and the 4 to run free. This, I thought, was entirely unfair to the 7, and as separating them into 2 [Circle and Fanny for their own protection] and 5 had only resulted in these 5 constantly hanging around them on the outside - the "family bonds" are extremely strong in both groups - I believed our only option was to fence Captain and his girls in again although I'd really hoped to avoid it this year.

We did this on Monday, but reducing the fenced area around the big pond and in the field by a great deal so that John could do the mowing more easily. We doubled up the fence where the rabbits had cut great holes into it and also reinforced several sections with plastic garden mesh fencing, but both Anabelle and Captain managed to get out twice and then couldn't find their way back in until I flattened the fence down across the path.

This photo was taken before I put the shorter plastic fence along the bottom to close the gaps. The four residents have plenty of space, food and water, and lots of visitors - mallards, pheasants, waterhens ....

Hedda still does her trick of getting into the "island" and then finding it impossible to get out again - complaining loudly - until we come with a long stick to lower the plastic fencing around it; she's done it three times in the last four days:

The 7 are enjoying their freedom to roam enormously

and both Circle and Fanny appear well. Here's Fanny leading the troupe from the frog pond:

In this photo she's peering out just behind Primmie in front, Circle is on the left.

Blob's limp had nearly gone after his three days of confinement with the others, but after having been let loose again a slight limp can still be seen. Not that it stops him from running down to the fence with BBD at great speed and frightening the girls at the duck pond half to death! In the photo below he's at the back doing some acrobatics.

Saturday, 24th

I frightened myself to death last night reading up about all the diseases that could cause the symptoms I'd seen in Fanny, and I fully prepared myself to see her dead in the hut when I went to let them out this morning.

No, she came out with the others, looking better than she had done last night. I cooked some pasta and mixed it with grated carrots, onion, garlic and lots of oregano because of their disinfectant and antibiotic properties, hoping that Fanny would get back to eating. I took some photos this morning and it certainly looked as if she was alright:

The white duck at the back of this photo is Circle who is definitely on the mend. I left all 7 shut into their enclosure today rather than causing more trauma with chasing, catching and separating ....... I did wonder if yesterday's catching of each individual and separating the group had contributed to Fanny's feeling poorly.

The last time I looked the group seemed very relaxed in their somewhat confined space. Trying to take photos of them all I could only detect BBD and Primmie at first:


But from the other gate I could see all 7:

The 4 from the big pond seem quite bemused by these new arrangements, especially Captain who's been deprived of results in his pirating excursions. He made up for it yesterday morning, though, when he spotted our regularly visiting mallard pair:

Note how he completely ignores the mallard drake and goes straight for the duck.

Friday, 23rd, St. George's Day

It didn't quite work out as planned yesterday. Late afternoon we suddenly saw that one of the gates to the enclosure hadn't been shut properly and that Blob, Circle and Rellchen were out. No harm was done, though, as the boys seem to be a lot calmer later in the day.

This morning fun and games! With John standing guard at the hut I picked out one after the other - they were so scared that four at a time crowded themselves into the nesting box to get out of my way. I put four over the fence again and Circle was treated with the ointment once more; she seems to be healing up nicely.

This afternoon we went to visit John's auntie Nora on her 98th birthday with cakes and flowers. She had lots of family visitors and it was nice to see her even though she's no longer the bright spark she was last year.

On our return about half past seven I got very worried about Fanny. She was keeping herself separate from the others, looking ill and lethargic. I watched her for some time before putting everybody to bed, although she was drinking I did not see her eat anything, and it looked as if she had the runs. So suddenly! What's frightening me is that she looks similar to Florrie and Sweetie before they died. I must go and research what could be the matter.

Thursday, 22nd

We've had visitors, 2 lots, very nice visitors, too. While Eleanor was here she made this "castle cake" for a history project with the duck eggs of the day:

And this morning we said good bye to "ducky" friends Petra and Klaus who are now in Scotland. This photo was taken yesterday:

When I went back to some weeding in the garden I noticed that Circle had been injured above her left eye again, and I thought there was nothing for it but to separate her. For company we thought to put in Blob, who's been limping for several days now after fighting with BBD and also Rellchen who seems to sit resting a bit apart from the others quite a lot.

That was easier thought/said than done. With John's help we drove the 7 into the enclosure and eventually caught Circle [in the hut!]. I applied tea tree ointment to the wound above her eye and a generous amount to the back of her head so that any drake trying it on couldn't get a grip, hopefully. We put Circle into John's shed to keep her in for a moment while we caught BBD, Fanny, Primmie and Decibels and put them outside.

I took some photos a little later:

Here are the "outcast" four having a siesta in the shadow of the forsythia ball. Primmie has leapt up again because she really is Blob's mate and went off to see him at the gate.

The three inside the enclosure. They soon settled down after Blob had made a lot of protesting noises.

I took this photo through the bathroom window, of the four resting under the Maigold rose at the back of the house.

Nice photo of the 'outsiders', I think. I will let them all together again tonight but hope to repeat the separation for a couple of days more, to let Circle and Blob recover.

Sunday, 11th

This photo shows how far apart the two 'enemy camps' normally are. One lot is just having a nice siesta under Harlequin's fir tree while the other four are far away on the duck pond. When they turn up to feed one or other of the three girls get a rough reception:

This is Candida being fought over. The remaining three usually hang about until the affray is over and then go and feed.


Apart from that life around the frog pond goes on quite peacefully. No frogs or frog spawn are left in there as far as I can see, but there is a huge amount all over the duck pond and in the ditch - we shan't be short of frogs. However, the last few early mornings I've seen small groups of batchelor mallards on the pond edge - if they get stuck into the frog spawn there's no knowing what will be left over to turn into tadpoles.

Last Thursday, 8th, John and I finally got around to installing a Christmas present from 2008, believe it or not, we just couldn't decide where to put it until then. Here are the top lot of ducks checking up to see if the newly planted climbing rose and clematis have been put in right:

I was just taking a photo of the garden from the upstairs window when I heard protesting pheasant noises and saw the white and ginger cat from next door narrowly miss a hen pheasant.
No, not the one you can see at the bottom right of this photo, another one that got away into the ditch.

Our gallant troupe of 7 have heard the commotion and set off to repel the intruder................

[Gerd, can you see the flowering currant just about in the middle underneath ducks 2 - 4]

......... showing a united front and making a lot of noise.

Success, cat's gone!

Both cats from next door seem to be having a fair success rate at catching or just missing pigeons and pheasants, we've seen both of them stalk them and even just catching the tail ends of them. In the first big photo of today's entry you can probably see a scattering of feathers under the two-stemmed birch. Well, John was able to observe the whole thing and was in fits about it. Big fluffy cat made a dash and caught pigeon. Feathers everywhere. Pigeon flew away minus these feathers. Cat picked up one of the tail feathers and proudly carried it upright in it's mouth all the way to the stile.

I thought it was hilarious, too, when I saw this fluffy cat come towards me spitting feathers after it had just caught the tail feathers of a pigeon when the food container had been near the greenhouses. I won't laugh any more if they catch any fledgling birds or waterhens as they did last year.

Wednesday, 7th

We've had a proper April showers day today, and we didn't get out into the garden until quite late in the afternoon. The forsythia ball has finally "exploded", a good month later than normal, and I was also delighted to see the flowering currant I planted last year showing up well:

Despite all my efforts to keep the two duck groups together they are at daggers drawn. Captain still makes his pirating sorties on the ducks of the other group, but equally his three girls get driven off as soon as they turn up for food near the conservatory. We've gone so far as to shut in the 7 at night and then let the 4 fill their crops before bedtime, I'm sure they're missing out on their food.

When I went to clean out their hut late this afternoon they gathered round me immediately clamouring for food. I dug over a stretch of the potato patch to get them some worms, and after I finished the hut I relented and brought a container of food down for them to feed in peace.

I took this photo to show just some of the frog spawn in this big pond. There are lots more patches all around it as well as in the still flooded ditch behind. Conversely, there is not much frog spawn left in the two ponds the group of 7 use, nore have I seen Primmie with a frog lately ................ has she eaten them all? It just shows how different their tastes can be, one lot likes frogs, the other not.
Another thing this photo shows is how all my carefully dug up, placed, netted and pinned down grass turves have been absolutely demolished. I've not given up on prettifying the pond edges, though. I shall dig up some more turves, get some netting with smaller apertures and see if that keeps out their probing beaks, the fight's not over yet!

To finish for today a very peaceful photo of the duck pond four.

Easter Sunday, 4th

I've been more busy than usual lately, and by way of apology to all you lovely folks I neglected to send special Easter greetings to and who often find out what we're doing through these diaries, here are some photos taken this sunny afternoon:

What's that white moving behind the camellia and the pieris? Is it one of next door's cats?

Oh no it isn't, it's our lot of seven.........

....... running straight to their favourite puddle:

Hope that all who read this are having a wonderful Easter holiday!

This "herd" of Easter bunnies and lambs are part of what I baked by using the biscuit cutters [and recipe] from the parcel from Germany, and the "grass" and chocolate bunnies in John and my little baskets were out of that as well.
Thank you again, Micha and Pine!

Good Friday, 2nd

The last two mornings have opened up with a surprise.

Yesterday we woke up to a covering of snow:

There was quite a bit more before the sun came out, and our Moira Group of walkers were certainly glad of the sun because it was cold with a chill wind.

Here we are setting off ...

.... and here we have just arrived at the windmill [which I've painted from a distance but never visited].

Coming back to the stile I took a slightly wobbly snap of our ducks in the orchard from the "outside":

It was a most enjoyable morning, the weather stayed sunny, if chilly - the rain didn't start until the 15 of us were eating our lunch and it never stopped all afternoon!

The surprise this morning was a little more gruesome.

No, it wasn't this cock pheasant [who'd been waiting patiently to get at the food until the ducks had left it] who "bought it". We had forgotten to take this food container in overnight, and a hen pheasant must have been eating from it in the early morning, oblivious to everything else, when it was killed. There were feathers everywhere, scattered over a large area near the food trough, on the other side of the shrubs roughtly where you can see the stone owls in this photo, and in a long line leading down to the ditch bypassing the stile.
I have no idea who the killer was - foxes have always taken our ducks without leaving a feather.

It certainly frightened our ducks when they came to get some food. Even after I'd raked most of the feathers away and the rain had washed them into the muddy ground they took care to skirt around the scene.