Spotlight on the moorhens

Now that almost all the mallards have gone - there seems to be just one duck with two ducklings left and they are keeping a low profile - the moorhens are centre stage. There are six chicks on the moat - two older ones who wander round independently and four younger chicks who are watched carefully by adults. One of the parents looking after the chicks is spending time lying down on the lawn - a behaviour I had not spotted before. I noticed that the adult had a limp which may be part of the reason for being on sentry duty and part of the reason for spending time lying on the grass. I still find the moorhens have a comical look on land which contrasts with their elegance in the water. It is the huge feet and long legs that give the appearance of one of those trucks on monster tyres. I am also amazed at the way they start off as chicks looking like very small versions of the parents and then move into a juvenile phase looking quite different beofre reasserting the adult look.

Mallard Central

Today fifteen adolescents returned - this could have been the remains of the brood of sixteen that left a while ago. They hung around doing quite a bit of resting and sleeping. The brood that was born about a month ago seems to be only two ducklings now so they were also on the water. Then this evening I spotted a recently born brood of six ducklings - they looked to be only a day or two old. That makes in excess of fifty mallard ducklings born this year - as opposed to a grand total of eighteen in the last three years. One of the adolescents started to get aggressive with the young ducklings. The mother was chased off by another of the adolescents. I shouted at them and it stopped for a few minutes. The next time it happened the mother had a go at the perp herself. Hopefully that will be the end of it as the ducklings cannot defend themselves and don't seem to have the sense to keep a low profile.

More ducklings

A third set of Mallard ducklings has hatched in the last couple of days - to add to the the two sets born last month. In the three years we have been here we have not had more than one brood in a year and the most ducklings at any one time has been nine. This year we have had thirty eight ducklings........so far.

One of the April broods was back on the moat with thirteen 'adolescents'. The duck that was with the older ducklings occasionally chased off a tiny duckling when it got too close to her brood. This must be to stop it joining her lot as it could hardly have provided a physical threat. Whilst this sort of behaviour is described as normal it does not fit with the communal lifestyle and creche arrangements that seemed to apply to the first two broods.

Grass snake at close quarters

I hadn't seen one of our grass snakes close up until today. I was removing ivy from the garage roof gutters when I came across a snake hiding under the ivy. Of course I stopped clearing and let it slide under some remaining cover. I think it could travel down into the water via the downpipe from the guttering although it could also get there via the ivy.