2 Too Late

The Swans Island produced yet another brood of ducklings today, just after midday one of the ducks I reared last year (the sister of the mother of the white ducks) came over to me with 2 ducklings underneath !
I know she laid some eggs earlier in the year which were flooded and eaten by the crows. She had been acting as though she was sitting on eggs over the past couple of weeks, but I thought it was far too late in the year to be true. I believe she had more earlier in the day, for I see a pic of her on the Gurn showing 4 ducklings. The hoodie crows and seagulls will most likely have them all by tomorrow, this is virtually winter regarding food supplies! I have never seen ducklings this late in the year and I just can't see them surviving now, the days are too short with no insects, and long cold nights to get through. The last lot of ducklings in August, started with 8 and finally ended up with two.