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I often get asked why are the female ducks so plain coloured ? The simple answer is, camouflage = survival.
A perfect example can be seen in the photos taken today of the Mother who entered the river yesterday with her brood ,
who incidentally are also born with camouflage ! See for yourself.
Being involved daily with river wildlife can be a real emotional roller coaster. You get to know individual birds so well and watch the characters develop in the young ones. It's particularly emotional watching tiny ducklings trying to survive in such a wild environment where at least 96% are killed by predators.
Take the brood of 11 that came out of the cemetery burn about 10 days ago, there is now only one left and it's in my thoughts morning and night. It's mother is ever watchful and tries to keep it close and safe, but does leave it unguarded from time to time, this gives me some anxiety as I watch it sometimes get too close for comfort to gulls. The nights are colder and longer, the food supply is minimal, and every day I am filled with trepidation as I approach the river to see if has survived another night.
With about 140 ducks close together there is an element of safety in numbers, and as yet the Crows have not taken it - I am forever willing it to survive and hope it turns out to be like it's Mother.
The rest and peace and quiet seem to be bearing fruit for Solo, for she is now using her legs more, still with a slight limp. Full use of the legs is essential for survival, needed for running to take off and escape.
It may be that Solo has been intentionally separated from her family if she was injured, swan parents often shun a cygnet that appears to have some illness, Popeye and Penny did it a few years back to one of their own with an injured a leg - The reasons are simple, it is to avoid the other cygnets catching what might be ailing the sick one.
Anyway Solo is on the mend eating grass lettuce and wheat, and keeping a wary eye on me too !
This has been a good year for the river waterfowl, the Swans have produced their best ever brood and the surviving ducklings to date number 47, the best year ever ! A combination of factors coming together made all the difference.
The biggest of these was the weather, a cold spring looked like it was going to be a repeat of the last couple of years and the ducks delayed nesting, then the summer arrived. Above average temperatures meant plenty of insect life, short warm nights, and lots of algae and weed growth in the river. It also meant the crows were finished feeding their young before all the ducklings showed up on the river.
Record low water level, and probably the best summer we have had since the 70s, and hopefully it's not over yet.
The recent bad was the death of Faith, the mother duck who lost her Bill. Then the fact that my beautiful woodpigeon Woody has probably been killed by a predator.
It is now 3 weeks since he last came back for his favourite sunflower seeds and lettuce. This means the two wood pigeons that I reared successfully are both gone. He was a remarkable bird that crossed the divide between man and bird, and I miss him a lot.
He survived several months in the wild, and I thought he might be lucky and avoid being killed, even though he was never taught survival by a parent bird.
The lovely, are of course the waterfowl and ducklings in particular,
they are endearing creatures and the more I study them the more interesting they become.
