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After 2 months rearing , the Incubator Ducklings were released today.
The tides and conditions were right and they are now capable of flight. The white duckling is a male and the other female white one I have kept meanwhile.
They joined up with the previous lot released 2 weeks ago and after a few tussles they settled down together.
Hopefully most of them will survive and help produce future generations on the river.
Who needs Royal Ascot when we have our own cygnet races !
The cygnets are growing rapidly and Popeye and Penny are putting them through their paces daily.
The Crows are ultra active on the riverside, and this evening a couple of wood pigeon fledglings were attacked. A local dog walker alerted me to the scene, and I found one fledgling half eaten, and the other clinging to a tree stump with a head wound and half it's right wing feathers missing, the usual Crows trademark ! I have treated the head wound with anti bacterial cream, and given it some food by way of liquidised mixed bird grain, lettuce, and poultry pellets mixed into a stiff paste.
This was the type of food I gave previous squabs that seemed to thrive on it. Hopefully it will survive the attack and be returned to the riverside in due course.
Yesterday I released another mother and 3 ducklings at nearly 7 weeks old. Today I saw one of them dead and being eaten by a Crow !
The River ducklings stand little chance against these killers.
These Crows will stop at nothing, and are ruthless predators, it seems ducklings need to be kept for 8 weeks before they can be considered safe from Crows.
I also passed on 5 male ducklings to a couple near Auldearn who have a pond and were looking for some Mallards. We have a disproportionate amount of drakes on the river, so hopefully this will help alleviate the problem.
Trust member George Berryman was amazed by a local Wood pigeon that was eating out of his hand today.
Wood Pigeons are usually fairly shy birds and keep their distance from humans. This is one of a pair I have been feeding over the past year and have gained their trust.
They have been feeding along with the feral pigeons around the Merryton bridge for some time now.
This one started eating out of my hand the other day, and George had the privilege of doing likewise today.
They are beautiful birds, and getting this close to wildlife is a joy.
From day one the cygnets are learning all the skills of survival, coached by Popeye and Penny who also learn which ones are the strongest.
At just over 3 weeks old they are nearly the size of Mallard ducks and rapidly growing.
Today Popeye and Penny flew away some 60 yards and left the cygnets to themselves.
This has always been part of the learning curve, and allows Penny to determine which ones are the strongest and how well they act as a family group.
The cygnets bunch together and head towards Mum and Dad, and Penny heads back towards them -
the reunion is heralded by head nodding and greetings.
One of the ducklings from Riverpark appears to be developing Angel wing, which I have had to bandage in order to correct it. Angel wing it seems can either be genetic or due to a high protein diet according to the experts. In view of the fact that all 42 ducklings in my care have been given the same diet, I can only assume that this instance is most likely to be genetic.
Angel wing starts when the wing feathers are growing rapidly and the weight of blood makes them droop, which is not a problem except when they turn outwards away from the body of the bird. This can lead to malformation of the wings and eventually render the bird unable to fly. Correction is relatively simple, by bandaging the wing into the correct position for 5 days or so. Care has to be taken not to make it too tight as to restrict the blood supply.
The diet should also be mainly vegetation, such as lettuce, greens, fresh grass, and thawed garden peas. This little fellow should be OK in a few days time.
The Incubator ducklings are coming on fine and should be able for release in a couple of weeks.
Since they have no mother to guide them, for safety sake I will have to keep them longer before release than the previous ones.
They have been thriving partly on chopped Lettuce kindly donated by several Trust members, and keeping the costs of care down.
After yesterdays woes, today some good news - 11 ducklings are still alive and together !
The one missing after yesterdays baptism of fire with the swans made it back to the brood. They were bunched tightly together and looking good.
Every hour that passes gets them closer to flying and they will be watching and learning all the time about the river environment.
As if to reassure me, the wild bunch gave a quick display of fly / diving in the warm summer Sun, this will strengthen their wings and speed up the ability to fly.
As yet no sign of the Mother and other duckling.
It has been a woeful day for me, sadly I had to part with the moonwalking duckling since it's condition had worsened and it's quality of life would have been intolerable.
Then the morning visit to the river I discovered the newly released ducklings on the swans island happily preening themselves. I counted 11 and knew right away that the Mother was being pounced on by the drakes. I had hoped when she headed up river yesterday that she would take a few days to return to the lower river, however someone told me that the brood was down river last night ! Within a short while this morning the Swans chased the brood and one of them disappeared between the large rocks on the bank, It still has not rejoined the brood. After the tragedy last year I am full of dread for the 7 week old's, especially if the mother is killed and the Blackback gull turns up !
They are on the verge of flight, but will have to stay alive for about another week to improve their chances of permanent survival.
They are pretty well fully grown and are sticking close together as the photos show. I released them before they could fly, in order that the mother would not take off and abandon them, but teach them the dangers of the river environment.
Today was D-Day for our first brood of 12 ducklings to be released on the River this year.
After 7 weeks of TLC and a final breakfast of Lettuce, mealworm, and mixed grain, it was time to introduce them to the wild.
With the help of trust member Eddie, we carried the 12 ducklings and their Mother down to the riverside and let them go. The Mother took them upstream, and this might be the best move away from drakes down river. Short video of successful release below.
Brilliant sunshine, and today has been the first truly fine summers day this year !
All the birds are chilling out and enjoying the sun, a little too bright for the camera when shooting white objects though.
Cygnets enjoyed having a dip below.
