Crows Claim First Brood

                               I was too late to save the first brood of ducklings today at the west beach. Yesterday I was told that a duck and 9 ducklings was seen in a garden at the bottom of Seabank road. Today I was informed about a duck with 5 ducklings trying to get past the breakers into the sea, this was almost certainly the same brood. The conditions could not have been worse, with a strong easterly wind and cold temperatures. By the time I walked over with the net, I was just in time to see the last duckling being taken by a crow - it was heartbreaking ! The mother duck stood on the rocks with the sea crashing around her and all her ducklings gone.