Fearing a repeat of last years carnage, and ending up with virtually no ducklings this year, I decided to try an experiment to offset the predators actions. By incubating a few duck eggs and hopefully rearing them until they were too big to be taken by predators.
I did some research on rearing mallard ducks, but found out that it's a little more involved when actually doing it .
Having occasionally taken care of the odd injured bird it seemed sensible to have an aviary built with a coop etc. This would serve as a place to care for any future injured or orphaned birds, and would also double up as a place to try rearing a few ducks.
I have offered the SSPCA the use of my aviary for any orphaned ducks which could then be put into the river when old enough.
I realise some people might think this is interfering with nature, but my own view is that since we learned to stand upright, we have been interfering with nature ever since - and not in a constructive way ! If we were all abiding by the laws of nature, and thinking what the impact was before we did things then maybe we wouldn't make such a mess of things. The north American sitka spruce that gives the Hoodie crows their nesting site and vantage point would not be growing along the river, but elder Rowan and willow and native species would instead. Likewise the giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed also alien species.
People who remark "it's nature or natural" never seem to realise that we humans are part of nature and not outside it ! That said, I see no reason why nature cant be given a helping hand when required. Interestingly I saw on the news today, how successful it has been to have re- introduced the Great bustard back into Britain - after we shot it to extinction ! Another prime example of humans "being natural". Anyway I digress, but see no harm putting in a few new mallard ducks to boost the gene pool and local numbers.
As it happens this has been a good year for duckling numbers, and I counted 36 plus 4 that I have reared and one I currently have at home.( Nipper) This is an eight fold increase on last years disaster. All of these ducklings come from 7 separate parents so this is good for the genetic mix.
I was told that what I was doing would not work because Ducks "imprint" on people rearing them from incubation, and could not be put into the wild without the help of a bird rehabilitator.
Because of this I researched the subject of bird rehabilitation as well. The key factor seemed to be to have as little human contact with them as possible and therefore easier to put them back into the wild.
Having an aviary with easy access to the coop , seemed to provide the ideal setup for very little human contact.
The upshot is that yesterday at 7 weeks old I introduced the 4 ducklings into the river. I played mother for a couple of hours showing them round the island and riverside, then slipped home leaving them to their new domain. So far as I can tell they have taken to it like a duck to water, and haven't been driven away by the other ducks, or followed me home ! It has been an fascinating learning curve, messy and quite a lot of work - but very rewarding.
I will give you a series of pics showing the start to finish of the project. I hope you find it interesting.
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