Autumn Surprise

When you have been involved with wildlife all your life you are ready for surprises and one such event occurred this week. A neighbour phoned up on the 24th to advise me that on his garden pond were a pair of Mallards with six newly hatched ducklings! As Mallards usually breed in Springtime and the young are attended by the female alone I rushed around to his garden to witness this astonishing event and capture it on film.It will be weeks before the young can fly so let’s hope that the pond does not freeze over otherwise the young will fall easy prey for any passing fox.
More birds are now on the move with a Goosander appearing on the local canal and the first Jack Snipe showing on the 14th October with three more shortly after. click here