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Post by cowslip on Mar 28, 2011 9:32:20 GMT
Yesterday I discovered a duck sitting on a nest she has built on the border edging our pond.  She is tucked between a Euonymus and a Libertia and is well disguised. Dread to think what state my garden will be in if she rears a family but sadly I don't rate her chances very high considering the local cats, squirrels and magpies that frequent the garden.  |
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Post by Cherry on Mar 28, 2011 14:01:53 GMT
I had a pet Muscovy which moved with me to Moray. They get very friendly and are much easier than chooks. If you let your duck make her path, she will stick to it and you can garden around her. I had to make a 'stonehenge' out of stone outside the kitchen window, because my duck liked to watch me from there. She followed me everywhere. When she laid eggs, I was the only one able to get near her. I love ducks.
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Post by SueA on Mar 28, 2011 15:29:43 GMT
Is it a mallard Cowslip? It will be lucky if it manages to raise young there won't it but you never know. On a walk we go on along a canal in a nearby village there are always swans nesting in a garden every year & there are cats etc. at the houses there, mind you I think a swan in full flight would scare of most predators! We found an empty duck egg floating in a pond on at Erdigg Hall where we visited at the weekend, not sure if it had hatched or been eaten.
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Post by grindle on Mar 29, 2011 5:31:29 GMT
 I'd love a duck nesting in my garden
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Post by lesley on Mar 29, 2011 5:39:45 GMT
I'd love a duck nesting in my garden Dillion could have some fun Grindle ;D so could Stripes |
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Post by grindle on Mar 29, 2011 6:45:59 GMT
::)certainly could Les ;D
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Post by merlin on Mar 31, 2011 17:23:01 GMT
Twice now I.ve had a pair of Mallards on the pond, they fly off when I try to shoot them (with camera) but today I found an egg !!
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Mar 31, 2011 18:36:48 GMT
We get a pair of Mallards at the beginning of spring each year, we've also had an egg but they never hang around. It would be great to have ducklings on the pond.
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Post by Cherry on Mar 31, 2011 18:47:36 GMT
I went to our reservoir which borders our property with next door and there were loads of mallards and two swans. The ditches are not disturbed in this area and they had about 20 pheasants in them. I thought pheasants roosted in trees, or do they do both?
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Post by cowslip on Apr 14, 2011 21:38:43 GMT
I went to our reservoir which borders our property with next door and there were loads of mallards and two swans. The ditches are not disturbed in this area and they had about 20 pheasants in them. I thought pheasants roosted in trees, or do they do both?[/color] Cherry I always thought they nested in ditches. I well remember as a child walking our local fields and they used to fly out of the ditches frightening me half to death lol. |
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Post by cowslip on Apr 14, 2011 21:43:09 GMT
Our Mrs duck is still sitting on her nest. Although we have often seen her leave it and have a swim on the pond when we have looked out of the window, today, for the first time, she came out and wandered round the garden while I was out there doing some weeding. She foraged around for a while then went to the pond for a swim and a preened herself before going back to the nest
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Post by merlin on Apr 14, 2011 21:55:50 GMT
Pheasants are ground nesters but roost in trees at night.
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Post by grindle on Apr 15, 2011 5:08:53 GMT
she looks like she's trusting you now
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Post by merlin on Apr 15, 2011 5:38:10 GMT
Nice feeling to be trusted by a wild animal.
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Apr 15, 2011 6:42:28 GMT
Are there any eggs?
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She is tucked between a Euonymus and a Libertia and is well disguised. Dread to think what state my garden will be in if she rears a family but sadly I don't rate her chances very high considering the local cats, squirrels and magpies that frequent the garden. 
I'd love a duck nesting in my garden 
