July10

Thursday, 22nd

Nothing much to report, we continue making slow progress in our hedge clearing, it'll take some time.

So I'll just put in 3 photos taken today. The first one is of the waterhen chick running away; I think we should call it a teenager now as it looked grey all over when I saw it next to the food box.

The next two are evening shots of both groups of ducks.

Monday, 19th

Having mentioned last Thursday that I was going to clear as much of the undergrowth and overgrown hedge as I could every day I thought I'd put in a few pictures to show you what a mammoth task it is and is going to be for some time:

I took the three photos above after my first day's effort, those I took today show that I got a little bit further - at least you can see more of the light in the meadow beyond the ditch:

Before I went back out to the hedge-cutting on Saturday, I had a quick count from the window of the 7 who were having their after lunch snooze in the orchard ........ and there were 9! Looks like a couple of mallards have been accepted.

And we had an unusual visitor today who spent a whole two hours sitting on the back of the car. John managed to stroke it, and if it hadn't flown off eventually we would have handled it and called the number on its leg ring. It probably just needed a rest on its way home!

Thursday, 15th

Having felt quite relaxed for some time as we hadn't lost any ducks to foxes for a good two years now, I got a shock this morning on my way to the bottom hut. A young fox had come out of one of our neighbour's garden and was crossing our field not many metres outside the duck enclosure. It vanished in our thick hedge. So I spent most of the morning clearing as much undergrowth as I could and will continue until we can see right through to the meadows next door .... it might also deter them if we're working there a lot.

Something which didn't alarm me like the fox but puzzled me recently, were the group of 7 poking the ground a lot around the tin bath below the frog pond. The tin bath is their favourite watering hole and I didn't think much of it - until I was sinking into the ground while refilling the bath. There were lumps and bumps and holes made by the beaks in an area about 2m long by 1m wide. I guessed at mole activity and that the ducks were fighting back as the little velvety fellows were trying to surface underneath them. I guessed right, this morning the moles had managed to break ground in a few places:

Keep fighting them, you ducks!

The little[but growing fast] waterhen chick continues to visit and continues to delight me.
I took a few shots from upstairs trying not to disturb chick or parent:

After I took these four pictures I saw the little one run to the steps of the frog pond ....

...... hop down them and swim across and vanish in the big clump of reeds and irises:

This frightened Circle who was dabbling nearby and she promptly got out of the pond!

Oh, and yes, we have had quite a lot of rain by now, it rained nearly all day Tuesday; just showers and lots of wind since then.

Monday, 12th

IT'S RAINING! Yes, it really is. Having been promised rain on at least three occasions recently, and we never got more than a few drops, literally, it's actually doing it this morning - may it continue all day, PLEASE!

The ducks are delighted and got active right away, I took two snaps of the top lot:

No, white Decibels top left of this photo is not standing on the bottom of the pond, she's in the process of rising out of the water to flap her wings.

The rain isn't all that visible in these shots, but it is in this one of one of John's "birthday roses" about to burst into bloom:

I was also pleased to see the teasels outside the conservatory with their first flowering bands - they fascinate me the way they start in the middle and when those are finished the rings of blossom move upwards and downwards from there.

Another thing that pleased me was to get a quick shot of the waterhen chick yesterday morning. I hadn't seen it all day Saturday and feared for the worst. But there it was, all on his little ownsome, no parents with him:

Wednesday, 7th

Had a lovely surprise this afternoon and want to tell you all right away. Just sitting down to a cup of tea I saw a waterhen chick with an adult right by the food box:

Just look at the size of those feet! I bet it can walk on water ...

When I snapped them running back to the duck pond I saw that two adults were with the chick, you can just see the head of the second one top left of this photo. It looks then like only one survived from the latest brood and both parents are looking after it.

Friday 2nd

I missed the monthly walk yesterday, so no photos of that, Gerd! I was busy the previous few days trying to finish illustrations for our heritage leaflet to show at the meeting of our group last night.

But I do have some photos from sunny days before the rain started last night [no, we don't mind the rain, we're delighted, and so shall the ducks be when they come out this morning].

I spotted Rellchen sheltering under the new twin seat [one of John's birthday presents], all on her own - but not for long. Whether she called for them I don't know, but company soon turned up:

Something else I spotted which I'm not sure I should be pleased or worried about. While trying to remove the white polystyrene [remains of a flower basket that used to stand there] under the climbing hydrangea in front of the garage I suddenly got stung on my hand and saw myself surrounded by wasps. I beat a hasty retreat. What remains at present looks like this, the arrow pointing to the bit left of the nest I disturbed, but the wasps are still going in and out under that breeze block. As the ducks love to go into that area for shelter from the rain or to investigate if it's suitable for laying I'll have to try and relocate this nest.

As if this 'find' hadn't been enough ...... I was surrounded by wasps again when I stuffed some comfrey for drying into the ceanothus behing the fish pond, and saw this beauty:

It's located where the arrow points:

And still not enough, while doing my morning rounds of watering during our recent hot summer days I noticed busy wasp traffic at our entrance porch:

Oh dear!

The feeding arrangements, i.e. keeping the food container in front of the conservatory, continue to work well. Both groups of ducks come when they're hungry as well as just a few hangers-on [mallards, pheasants and waterhens], but nowhere near as many as there used to be. I let the bottom lot out first in the morning to get a good breakfast fill because, during the day, they still get driven off by the larger group. Here they come trotting up purposefully - I've inserted a second Hedda in front from another photo, I've never seen her looking this tall!