Disco's Daughter Returns !

Quite incredible surprise the other day, when Saffron her ducklings and Disco were crowded and quacking at the garden gate. 

All became clear when I heard a duck quacking on the opposite side of the gate... it was one of Disco's daughters that we released last week into the river. What makes this remarkable is the fact that they were transported under cover by car to the riverside from the centre of Town. 

This was not a case of imprinting on me, after some thought something much more interesting. Disco's brood of 10 were born in the garden some 50 metres from the Town clock. 

This clock chimes every hour 24/7, something all the ducklings in Trust care hear for the duration of their lives with the Trust. I reckon that disco's daughter having been pounced on by the river Drakes on the day of release, took to hiding in the riverside bushes and gradually over a week, worked her way back, using the Town clock chimes as her navigation! Ducks have the same 5 senses that humans have, some of them more advanced than ours ! They can hear each other peeping before they hatch. 

I'll  release her again along with Saffron and her brood in around 10 days time.