New Ducks ?

Today I saw 4 new ducks in the Harbour a Drake and 3 ducks, I suspect they have been put there for they are not wild Mallards but a domestic species. They look like Khaki Campbell's and have obviously been reared by humans, in addition they are unable to fly at the moment due to either wing clipping or moulting. They look exactly like the previous pair we had in the river a few years ago, larger than the mallards but very friendly and produce a lot of offspring. They mix and breed with the mallards and create hybrids of various colours. From what I've read, Khaki Campbell's are a mixture of Indian runners, Rouen, and mallard ducks anyway.

Some people will take exception to putting another species with wild stock and mixing the natural gene pool. Personally I don't have a problem with different ducks inhabiting the river, nature tends to sort them out over time.

The previous ones produced some lovely ducklings but many were killed because their light colouring made them obvious targets for the hoodie crows. The parents were good at producing and rearing their offspring and were highly successful, were it not for human badness ! Two of the light coloured ducks were killed by humans with catapults as I stated on older postings, - an awful heartbreaking crime on such beautiful innocent creatures. http://simplysuperbswans.blogspot.com/2009/06/duck-disaster-you-will-find-that-i-am.html

Needless to say If anyone sees wildlife crime they should contact me or the police.

Anyway, a bit of new colour in the river is welcome and I'm sure the new additions will mix well with the Mallards. The Cygnets were intrigued with them too.