February

Wednesday, 1st Maria's Birthday!

Since I lured the ducks to the front lawn and drive with pasta they've ventured that way themselves every day, even turning up at the back of the house and looking at us through the front room door - then taking fright and rushing off to their pond again. I wanted them away from the bottom of the frog pond because it is such a mess there at the moment. If you can see all the little white bits between pond and gate - they're feathers! And the moles have undone all the work we did trying to flatten the hills; there are even more now. Can you also see the the green-covered duck pond at the back below?

Luring them there with pasta didn't work in that case.

Thursday, 2nd

This morning John had to smash quite substantial ice on the pond near the hut again. This pond is quite sheltered, and it thaws out quicker than the other 3. The ducks don't like ice on the frog pond at all and won't go in even if it's just a light covering like this:

They're continuing their trips up the drive and onto the front lawn, though. A couple of photos:

Monday, 6th

Harlequin started the new week with renewed energy and determination this morning. She had obviously got fed up with all those intruders on her territory and chased away a large cock pheasant. And then, within 5 minutes of having been let out of the conservatory, she came back with a mole! I bet you there're a lot more for her to catch.

Wednesday, 8th

It seems pretty fruitless at the moment, but I'm continuing in my efforts to entice the ducks into the designated duck pond. Yesterday I took a bowl and filled it with the pond water and loads of duck weed, placing it right by the edge of the water. Then, laying a Hänsel and Gretel style trail with pasta I got them to follow me to the pond. They skirted round the bowl, however. I reckon they believe it might bite them.

Same thing today, but I went down to the pond first and then called them. They came at once, good as gold, but stopped a couple of metres short of the bowl:


I spent some time with them giving them loads of encouragement, but still no swimming in the duck pond. What a shame.



There's all that duck weed to be eaten rather than the Hebe by the frog pond - of that one there are only a few leaves left at the top! You can see it quite clearly in the 2 photos on the right; this one at the bottom was taken late October 2005.

Tuesday, 14th St. Valentine's Day

I can't believe that it's just two years to the day that we got our first four ducks, Rudolpho, Valentino, Gertie and Pearl. It seems now that there was never a time that we didn't have runner ducks around us. And when you think how much has happened in these two years ........................................

It's been a glorious, sunny day today, with just a short shower in the afternoon. Yesterday wasn't bad, either. I spent some time sitting on a log by the duck pond after I cleaned out the hut, called the runners, and they came running - as far as the edge, and then veered off into the field. After our very rainy Sunday they're finding plenty to eat all around, and they've got their favourite puddle back in front of the garage!

Saturday morning there had been a sharp frost. I did the obligatory smashing of the ice on their pond, then took a wheelbarrow down to the duck pond and filled it with great shards of frozen duck weed which I tipped into their small pond. Oh, the joy! They spent most of the day gobbling it all up - not a trace of it the next day. It took about an hour, though, before the pain left my fingers and I could feel them again. Yes, I know I'm silly.

Wednesday, 15th

The moon startled me this morning. I was up earlier than usual, and at first I thought the sun was up already:
:
The photo was taken at quarter past seven and is none
too good even though I brightened it up. I put an arrow to point out Coleorton Church steeple, and the whole thing looked a lot clearer through my own eyes - I could even see some of the mares on the moon.

But that's not what I was going to write today. There were two lovely surprises on the duck front.

There was an egg in the hut this morning! I thanked Fanny believing it was her. The other two won't be far behind now.

And then, when we came back from serving at the luncheon club, we saw that the ducks were in the duck pond, at last!!

I took a quick snap from the upstairs window in case they didn't stop in long. But John went down and took a few more while I got our dinner. I'm putting in three of them.

Well I never! Just wish I'd been there to see which one took the first brave step in! I've been watching them quite a bit this afternoon and they've been in and out of the duck pond like yo-yos. I'm torn now: watch the ducks a bit more or look out for Carl and Val at the Turin Olympics?

Friday again, 17th

It's 5 to 5 in the afternoon and the ducks are still on the duck pond. I mention this only because yesterday and the day before they followed their normal pattern of moving across to the "home" pond at 10 to 4. They really do love their "new" pond. Yesterday morning I went into their enclosure through the gate by the greenhouses which is nearer to the duck pond. By the time I'd fetched their food and water out of the garage they were already in there! They do all the splashing, diving, rearing up and showing off to each other that our first lot used to do, and although they come up a few times in the day to gobble up some wheat and layers' pellets and search out slugs and things in the tall grass they spend nearly all their time in there.

Talking about layers - John let them out this morning and found the third egg of this year. And when I went to clean the hut this afternoon I found another egg in the corner!

Saturday, 18th Uschi's birthday

3 eggs this morning, 2 slightly smaller than Fanny's, hurrah.

And the frost wasn't as bad as forecast, what a good day! Had to delay letting them out, though, because the fog was a bit thick.

Thursday, 23rd February

What a surprise this morning - it was snowing! And it hasn't really stopped all morning although now (just gone 2 in the afternoon) it's more rain than snow.



Lily and Olive came around the back of the hut on the roundabout way to the duck pond as I hadn't opened the gate near the greenhouses yet.

I went down a little later to take a snap of them on the pond and they all came rushing out expecting pasta - which they'd had yesterday as a treat. Because I didn't have any they cleared off again. Don't know if that's what Clarence is complaining about in the picture on the right ..........................

The girls are continuing to do a marvellous job with the eggs. We've had 3 every day since last Friday, always one white, fairly small, and two greeny-blue. These latter ones must be from Lily and Olive as Fanny has always laid white ones, small compared to Gertie's. Glad to say that the blue/green ones have been getting bigger, and if it's a genetic thing I must presume they're both Gertie's daughters.

The euphoria about their new pond has abated a little now. The first two days they were hardly off it, and on their way down to it completely ignored the frog pond which they'd been so fond of. Yesterday I saw Fanny going in there once more with the others following. There can't be any food left in there though because they came straight out again. And they're continuing with their foraging all around the garden, front and back, and are obviously finding lots of slugs because of the wet weather.

Just recently I've spent a lot of time reading through German web sites concerned with runner ducks, and finding out how badly their owners are affected by their governments' emergency regulations. I can understand the concern trying to keep bird flu out of the mainland, but it makes me quite sick that healthy stock is being culled (they call it "euthanising") as a preventative measure. I also believe it is cruelty to animals to keep waterfowl shut in "wild bird-proof" housing - and I can't see infection being kept out that way, either.

Monday, 27th February Emmeline's birthday

Caught a glimpse of them through the kitchen window this morning "hoovering" the front lawn. I love to see them making full use of the facilities and going all around the garden.

Noticed that Clarence appears to have taken charge of the troop rather than Donald - they must have been fighting it out some time ago. The three girls quite often group together out of the way of the boys now and more times than not lead everybody to a new location - as if they're fully aware of their power as a popular minority. Saw Splodge doing the preliminary head jerking movements to Lily who was busy snuffling in a big puddle, but she was having none of it, pecked him and told him to clear off.

If I see that the boys' attentions are getting too much I shall go ahead and put three of them in a separate enclosure and hut with close-net electric fencing on the far side of the duck pond. That may become an urgent measure anyway if we hear any more about fox activity. Next door but one had five more of their chickens taken last Monday - that was in addition to the two they lost to the foxes (one of them their little cockerel hatched at the same time as our ducks) just after Christmas. For the moment I just hope our eight are close to one of their ponds if a fox comes by in the daytime.

Still getting 3 eggs a day .........

Tuesday, 28th February (Pancake Tuesday - I'll make lots shortly for lunch, and then the ducks can have some too.)

Not today, though. There were just 2 eggs in the hut. I suppose they need a break sometime...........

Because the duck pond still had a thin layer of ice on it when our 8 turned up there they stood at the bog garden end for a couple of minutes, their reflections on the ice looking great in the morning sun, and then decided to single-file it down into the ditch. I can't see what they're up to down there, but they spent a good half hour before re-appearing at the pond side. I've seen them come up from the ditch several times a day just recently; I suppose they've chomped their way through everything edible in and around the duck pond and are widening their search ever more. Considering that at least one fox is about I may have to get a move on and buy electric fencing for that area.

PS in the evening: not true about the 2 eggs. When John shut the ducks in - about half past 6 is bed time now on a clear night - he spotted the third egg lying under the apple tree!