Rescue Duck Delivers

Regular viewers will recall the Rescued Halloween ducks of two years ago, three of the females survived, Sari, Jo and their sister. 

Today the sister turned up with a beautiful brood of 12 ducklings ! This is her first brood that I'm aware of, and I fervently hope she doesn't lose them all.

She allowed me a close up view, and what a beautiful sight of such a natural wonder - Enjoy.

Again I would ask people NOT to throw Bread at them, this would be fatal by alerting the seagulls and crows to their presence.

Cygnets and Rescued Ducks Progress

The cygnets are now into the final stage of development with the growth of their wings, the final step before flight. They have been strengthening their legs by zooming along like paddle steamers !

The new flight feathers are sprouting out and can be clearly seen in the sequence of shots, 

there is also a short video clip below.
I was also delighted to see one of the rescued ducks from the Halloween brood last year, arrive with 4 ducklings earlier this week.

She has lost 2 but hopefully will hang onto the remaining two. 

She is inexperienced like her sisters Sari and Jo, one of whom lost her brood, but new mothers often lose their first brood.
It's satisfying to see a rescued duckling going on to lead a normal life on the river !

Halloween Rescue

Today I was astonished to see yet another late brood of ducklings on the river, a mother turned up with 8 ducklings looking for food around mid-day. Mindful of the last brood ten days ago that were all killed within 48 hours, I was determined not to let this happen again. I have never seen ducklings hatched this late ever, and I know  they would stand no chance of survival beyond a couple of days. They would have to survive 10 weeks until they could fly, this would take them beyond the new year, which is totally impossible !   
Later this afternoon I headed down to try and catch both the mother and the ducklings. My heart sank when I saw half a dozen women throwing bread towards the mother and ducklings, with seagulls swirling and diving on the bread ! 

I explained that they were in danger of having all the ducklings killed by the gulls so they stopped and the mother duck moved away. After an hour or so the mother came over looking for food, the cold and darkness was beginning to fall but I managed to give her some grain with all the ducklings close by.
I took the plunge and grabbed the net, but the mother flew a few yards away before I could catch her. The ducklings were easier to catch and I managed to scoop all 7 that were still alive ! They are now safely in the brooder box under a heat lamp and I'm confident of their survival now. 

I know some people will think they should have been left alone to their fate, this I could not bear ! As a member of the top predator species on the Planet, I have merely deprived the lesser predators- namely mink, crows and gulls of a quick meal. Ten days ago I had the chance to save two of the last brood but chickened out, to my regret they were both killed the following day. I could not let it happen again ! I will try and capture the mother if possible, for it would be better if she reared them in the safety of my coop and aviary. At least I know they will survive until I can release them back to the river, and the mother will also survive. 

Letting them be killed was not an option for me at this juncture, the nights are long and cold, and there are no insects or food available for the ducklings. Allowing them to be killed would take the total of fatalities this year beyond 100, this is more than the entire mallard population of the river. Short video below