March05

Tuesday, 1.3.05

No snow and ice this morning, and the ducks made full use of the not-frozen ponds. Still getting 2 eggs every morning - but no sign of Gertie producing.

We actually had some sun today, and this afternoon John and I decided to take a lengthy walk and tour of inspection round the "estate". We asked Harlequin to come along and she abandoned her snooze in the conservatory and came! She's much like a dog this way, in that she's often come with us when we walk in the field.

It was very, very soggy underfoot, and I've never seen the ditch so full of water - like a small canal in places, and huge puddles more like small ponds.

Wednesday, 2.3.05 Charlotte's birthday

What a surprise this morning after all the white stuff had gone yesterday: it was snowing with thick flakes and everywhere was white over. John took some photos when he went to clean out the duckhouse, here are a couple:

You might need a magnifying glass to see the ducks swimming in their pond in this view from the round heather bed,

but here, below, they can be seen searching for food in the snow-free grass alongside the ditch, on the field side of the horse fence.

While watching two cock pheasants this afternoon making their way through the garden I spotted a waterhen in the orchard. It ambled, picking up bits here and there, along the edge of the ditch towards the duck hut. All of a sudden another waterhen - of the same sex, I presume - came rushing up at the first one from the duck pond, and a tremendous fight started. I could watch them pursuing each other, half running, half flying, past the ducks who looked amazed and started to follow, all the way to the far end of the field.

I'd never seen two waterhens fighting before. The performance continued the whole afternoon. One of the waterhens, which obviously felt at home around the duck pond (it was even swimming right in the middle of the 5 ducks without them taking much notice - only Rudolpho mounted the odd token attack), was constantly chasing away the other one. Amazing to see how fast these little animals can run!

Thursday, 24.3.05

Good grief, what a long time it's been since I last wrote. I'll have to get a move on or March will be over.

We had no more snow since I last mentioned it, and on the 8th John was able to cut the grass for the first time this year.

Every time the grass gets mown it generates great excitement with the ducks, as lots of food gets brought to the surface. To my delight their search for food brought them right in front of the house and half way up the drive to the road, for the first time since last September. I love watching them when they are close by.

The egg-laying has continued in a splendid fashion, 2 every day apart from 11th February and 12th March when we had just one. It's always one white and one with a slight blue/green hue, the latter being somewhat larger and now of a size we had from Gertie and Pearl last year. I still don't know who lays which eggs.

Apart from the first two days we always find the eggs in the corner opposite from the water bucket, and I felt rather guilty the other morning when I took them away, as the bedding of woodshavings had been piled around them, as if the ducks had wanted to hide them. Also in that corner a circle of about 14 cm in diameter has been very much pecked on the wooden floor. I wonder if the old nesting instinct is coming out again, or is John's cheeky suggestion right, that they're trying to peck their way out?

The temperatures have shot up noticeably since the middle of March, and Spring has well and truly sprung in the garden. Among the ducks I've seen more rivalry - Rudolpho in particular has got more aggressive. Up till now his aggressiveness has been restricted to pidgeons, waterhens and other mid-sized birds, we have not been pursued yet! I get lots of laughs watching the wild chases that often take place around the frog pond and in front of the garage, where the pursued seem to best the ducks every time. For instance, I could see all five, lined up next to each other, staring intently into the chicken run through the wire fence - a pidgeon had flown into there and was pecking around on the ground in brazen safety.

And the waterhen came right in front of the kitchen window, hotly pursued by the ducks. So it flew into the frog pond. The ducks circled round the steep side of the pond (not being keen on the steps on this side) and entered the water from the other side. Waterhen slipped out onto the top of the slope where the heavier ducks couldn't follow. By the time they had turned about and got to the top of the slope again the waterhen was on it's way to the duck pond where, 3 minutes later, I could see it merrily swimming around without interference.

Wednesday, 30.3.05

The chases continue. Something new to me was to see the drakes behind the pile of logs, where they never ventured before, and I once saw Rudolpho FLY over them from behind there and pursue a moorhen right across the pond, out of it, around it and the duck hut, and then give up. It makes me smile to see how the "boys" give up the chase after a little while, and leave the waterhens sitting in peace on the branches or even swimming in the pond. As if they felt they'd done their duty chasing for a set number of minutes, and could then return to more serious matters - like sex!

They've certainly had that on the brain for a few weeks now, and which is probably what makes them try to chase away every sizeable bird - do they see them as possible rivals? - and fight each other as well. The "girls" react in different ways, Gertie and Fanny being compliant, but Eppi tries very hard to get away. She has developped quite a nifty side-stepping action when pursued, and she often stays behind on the edge of a pond when the other four go off on an expedition. Fanny misses her, though. We've seen her running back and forth a few times calling all the time, and then seen Eppi turn up from the vegetable beds or from behind the frog pond.

The two new ones do stick together as do the three "old" ones; the integration has not been complete. I often see these three set off for somewhere at great speed after their usual natter, and Fanny and Eppi desperately trying to catch up with them - it's as if they were speaking a different language and hadn't been told where everybody is going ...