The Delight and The Danger

The miserable May weather continues unabated, if it wasn't for the delight of the ducklings I think I would be really depressed about it. 

With the delight comes the danger, for the Mother as well as the ducklings. Feisty has been pounced on by many of the spare drakes on the river, desperate to mate with any female duck that appears.

The spring like weather conditions - more like March than May seems to have prolonged the urge to mate. Feisty is in hiding and her newly released ducklings are left on their own, fortunately sticking close together and so far avoiding being taken by predators.

The rescued Harbour street ducklings are now a week old but sadly two of the 11 have died. I found one on the stone floor and the other in the straw, both were wet, they may been stood on by the mother or drowned accidentally in the water tub. Dangers for tiny ducklings are never far away.