New Additions to the Pond

[MKG]

We, and the poodle, are delighted to announce our latest pond-life guests - a pair of mallards. They've been there every day now for a week. Not what we expected, but a tad more welcome than the herons.

[red]

oo wonder if they will breed

[Millymollymandy]

Guess that depends whether there's a male and a female! We often get two males or one male and a couple of females.

When there is a male alone my girlie ducks get a little 'interested' but they are still a bit shy! He, on the other hand, being a different breed of duck doesn't seem to notice them!

[MKG]

Definitely a pair - male and female - and they're behaving as though they're interested in ducklings. Which means, of course, that I may be in for a bit of barrier building if I find the nest because the dog, although he's mostly harmless, has an insatiable curious streak. He's not bad, although we were concerned when he chased a pheasant into the greenhouse. That was an interesting thirty seconds.

[MKG]

Aha!!! Spotted them this morning waddling away from the pond and into the brushwood wildlife run behind the orchard. That saves me building the barriers - the dog has no chance of getting in there. Although how he'll react to a line of ducklings following Mum across the lawn remains to be seen.

[Millymollymandy]

I hope you get ducklings! How cool would that be? Just watch out for the nasty herons then - they are always after my baby moorhens.

[MKG]

NEVER EVER AGAIN, I say to myself, assume that it's nice to be visited by different wildlife. The mallards have disappeared. I was really disappointed and began to research them to see if, maybe next year, we could do a little more to make it good for them here.

The buggers eat tadpoles!!!!! That's what they were doing here. The pond, as far as I can make out, has not a single tadpole or froglet remaining. That's a lot of square yards of pond and a lot of frog protein gone bye-byes. And a lot of slug-killing ability.

Next year, I'm sitting next to that pond with a .22 rifle. Anyone got a good recipe for mallard?

[Millymollymandy]

Nature's mean isn't it? I haven't seen any frog or toadspawn since I got my ducks. Well they've eaten half the lake bank so there's nothing left for the spawn to cling to.

[mrsflibble]

Anyone got a good recipe for mallard?

cook it till the skin's crispy and then shred to put in chinese pancakes with cucumber, plum sauce and spring onion.