August

4.8.04

When I looked out of the window first thing this morning I could see the waterhen poking out from the nest and trying to pull the long leaves and stalks of the reeds back up from where the heavy rain had flattened them.

A little later, walking back to the house after hanging out the washing, a moorhen was just getting on to the nest. Of course, it took fright when it saw me and dashed for cover. Only three eggs to be seen! While the hen was off anyway I stepped onto the middle pond section and had a good look around. I couldn't see any trace of the first nest, or the second, if this one - even closer to the steps - was indeed the third.

8.8.04

The nest-building activities of the moorhens have baffled me. I can understand the frenzied work they do after a storm has bashed the reeds down around their nest. I've helped them several times, too, by cutting down bunches of Crocosmia leaves and throwing them down near them - and I've seen them use them! But how many nests have they built? And what happened to the eggs I saw? Did they throw the first six into the water after they didn't hatch? Or did the heavy storms bash everything down and into the frog pond? I took a snap today:

It is difficult to see, but the moorhen is sitting on the nest in the bottom left hand corner, a quarter of the way up in the picture up from the letters ".. ult to". But the first nest I saw was about half way up the wall you can see top right, 20 cm or thereabouts from the corner, in the middle of tall reeds. Let's hope that at least these last three eggs that I've seen will hatch.

11.8.04

My hopes of seeing moorhen chicks have been dashed again. On returning home this afternoon I could see only one egg in the nest, and neither moorhen was in the vicinity. Both of them could be seen, though, all afternoon and evening, "playing" around the duck pond, Rudolpho and Valentino just chasing them off once or twice. It certainly looks as if the nest in our frog pond has finally been abandoned.

I'm still mystified as to whether the eggs fell into the water in the strong winds or whether "somebody" pinched them. Early this evening I saw a rat passing in front of the garage. Could it have ...? I do not think the ducks have been to blame, they've been brilliant, really, keeping away even though the waterhens made free with THEIR pond.

What used to tickle me when I had to chase the ducks from the pebble end is how, while they were running helter skelter and with huge noise to get away from me, their feathers were bristling hedgehog fashion - you know like our hairs stand on end when we get goose pimples. Only the girls, mind. They obviously get more frightened than the boys. I've also noticed, and this really bothers me, is that only the girls do this apologetic dance with much lowering of the head when they catch up with the others after having been left behind. Whatever happened to women's rights and self-assertion?

14.8.04

Well, it's 6 months now since the ducks came into our lives, but I can't imagine a time without them now. Their pond also looks as if it's always been there, and I had to look at photos from my pond-making birthday party, below (how did Charlotte get in there twice??), and from when they first arrived to remind myself. The idyllic looking scene below left shows the pond in early June, just over 7 months from the photo at the top - you can only tell from the trees in the background that it's the same area.

The ducks certainly still make me smile every day, and there've been other benefits: the garden's slug and snail population has been reduced to a minimum (unfortunately the frog population, too!), which gave newly planted flowers and vegetables the best chance ever to grow. The garden has never looked so lovely and lush. It has also been a great help that they are so hell-bent on chasing pidgeons, which did such a lot of damage to John's vegetables last year.

17.8.04

I've seen both moorhens on the margins of the duck pond, and swimming in it, every morning since they abandoned the pond near the house. They seem to be having a very enjoyable and easy time, at least until the ducks come out.

I don't know if they've started another nest, nor do I want to disturb them if they have. During the day, while gardening in the area, I've only had one or two glimpses of one disappearing into undergrowth behind the duck pond.