BE CAREFUL !

Earlier this evening with the occasional flash of lighting and thunder rumbling overhead, I saw a mother duck with 10 little beauties. I think the father must have been the big fair duck, since two or three of them are very light and really cute ! These might be the last brood of the season.

I would ask everyone to be very careful if out feeding the ducks from now on, this brood could be taken by gulls in an instant if bread is thrown at them. We have 3 lots of ducklings just now that are often tagging behind the new ducks, the mothers generally keep them close to the walls and banks - so look very carefully before you start feeding any ducks ! Watch out for fairweather feeders ( holidaymakers and those that come out at weekends to feed the ducks. ) Warn them not to feed the gulls anywhere near the ducklings. People have been in the main pretty good about not attempting to feed the ducklings during the last few months, by all means feed the swans and adult ducks - but not when the ducklings are close by. It would be nice if we could have some of the light coloured ones surviving. To all those that think seagulls are just the same as swans and ducks, I will again publish a couple of pics I took in previous years as well as the new ducklings seen earlier today. PLEASE TAKE NOTE ! Gulls are currently feeding their young !