Orphaned Eight

Sad Scene on the River this morning when I discovered a dead duckling floating by, and a group of 8 huddled together on the shingle with no sign of their mother.

                         I was hoping she had been temporarily chased off by the drakes and would return later. 

However 2 hours later there was still no sign of her so I decided that if she was still not around by the evening I would try and catch the brood and take them to the safety of the Trust aviary. 

Sure enough the situation was the same this evening so I spent the next 3 hours being led all over the riverside before I managed to catch 7 of them, but was unable to catch the last one before dark. I will try and get the last one in the morning, if it survives the night. I was hoping to avoid any duckling rescues this season and wanted to see how many would survive without the trust intervention.

The only exception being orphaned or injured ducklings ! The mother may have been killed by an Otter while trying to protect the ducklings, this has happened before.
I am sure this was the first brood of 12 this season which was reduced to 11 and then down to 9 yesterday. They are now safely in the warm of the brooder and will be transferred to the aviary tomorrow.