Yesterday evening I spotted a lone newly hatched duckling getting attacked by older ducklings when it attempted to get close to their Mother. I watched for some 20 minutes while the little duckling got pecked continuously with no sign of any apparent Mother. It had either come from upstream or the Mother had been chased or targeted by drakes and effectively left the little one to fend for itself. In the end I had no choice but catch and bring it home, otherwise it would have been taken by gulls, crows or the heron.
Today I took it back down to the river in the hope that I would spot the Mother with perhaps some other ducklings, sadly after 2 hours I did not see any other newly hatched ducklings. As it happens I have another month old sick duckling in the brooder, it belongs to the mother that was run over and has a broken wing.
It looks like I will have to rear this little one until it's safe to release to the river.
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