Ducklings

The ducklings have grown from impossibly tiny bobs of fluff to duck-shaped creatures with fluffy feathers – half-grown but still captivating to watch as they dart about on the water-surface trying to learn how to be ducks. I have been watching for them every day as I go out on my daily walk. In the city there is a little haven of nature which somehow manages to thrive and remain wild. There are small fish and tadpoles in shallow edges of the pond, a ghostly grey heron, coots, moorhens, large fish, songbirds and an abundance of wild flowers.
One fateful day we (my husband and I,) watched as the mother duck defended her ducklings from crows, a seagull and a wading dog. There are five ducklings now, to start with she had eight or nine. After that series of sudden attacks she became very shy and secretive for a while. I think the dog particularly gave her a terribly bad fright. After patient searching we would always discover her hiding her young away in a hidden clump of reeds or grass on the edge of the extensive pond – it had become a kind of ritual for us to see them every day. Fortunately she has got over that,and also the ducklings have grown to a size where they are not so vulnerable anymore. These days they take frequent trips up the canal where they are fed a lot of bread by passers-by. Evening will always find them back on the pond, often they are accompanied by a drake – a mallard with glossy green head and striking plumage. I actually prefer the mother's plumage, duller maybe, but when you look closely, the pattern of golden-brown feathers is very rich – and she has such a motherly, pleasing look. I am not sure if the drake is the father or not, or even if it is the same one all the time, if he is a father, he certainly leaves the mother to do most of the rearing on her own. Such a lot has been happening because it is Spring-time and I have been meaning to get started on this blog for quite some time now. I have been taking quite a lot of photographs – my camera is not that good and I have no pretensions to being a professional photographer, still I would like to share my inadequate attempts to capture the beauty and mystery of what I see every day and will keep updating the slide-show on the right with new images. For now I am sure this is much too long already.