Some Good and Bad News.

The good news today is the River having cleared of oil discharge. 

Fortunately for a newly hatched brood of 9 ducklings this morning. The heatwave conditions are ideal for these babies, and give them a good chance of survival.

                        In saying that, the Herring gulls are now feeding their young, and I witnessed a very natural scene on the river this morning.  

An adult bird grabbed an Eel and proceeded to immobilise and swallow it. 

This could just as easily have been a duckling, but usually only happens when they are triggered into a feeding frenzy mode by people throwing handfuls of bread from the bridge !

The Heatwave has another big downside for some species. In the past 48 hours I have had 8 town pigeons descend into my garden to die !  

They have all been struck down by some deadly illness. My guess is they have been drinking from contaminated gutters and fallen to e-coli or similar deadly bacterial infection. I tried to save 3 of them without success,

and all 8 died within 24 hours of descending into my garden. It was particularly sad to witness, as I happen to like pigeons but was helpless to prevent it.