Keeping our ducklings happy and healthy
I HAVE spent the last couple of weeks fretting like a concerned parent – because of three small ducklings.
Earlier this summer, a Muscovy duck was spotted swimming around the local lodge with six chicks.
A week later she was alone, having lost her young to predators or evil people.
Anyway, it looks like she had a second brood and while it started off at six, small yellow ducklings, three have survived the harsh realities of the Lancashire countryside.
So I have made it my mission to wander down each day and feed these delightfully tame youngsters – and mum.
I started off feeding them Wild Things swan and duck food, made by local company Pet’s Choice.
You can buy these foods in pet stores and they are much better, nutritionally, for the birds than bread.
Now I mix things up a little, adding some lettuce, and unfrozen peas and corn.
I have no idea if they recognise me, but when I arrive them come out of hiding and come close to my feet to feed.
I really feel privileged and, hopefully, my small interventions will help them make it through these important few months.
It’s been funny to watch my dog’s reaction to the feeding times, he ignores the ducklings and tries to eat the food.
I think he is now keen to protect them too.
Muscovy ducks are not native to the UK so they have probably escaped from parks and gardens and gone feral.
We usually have four or five on the local lodge every year.
This is a large, white duck – males have a black back and females are whiter and smaller.
Both have pink or red wattles – or hanging bits - around their bills, giving them striking faces.
Ducklings are yellow and incredibly cute, following mum on land and in the water, and buzzing around her when there is food to be had.
I came upon mum on her own yesterday, as I approached the little ones popped out from underneath her feathers.
They had been sheltering from the rain.
It will be about a month now before the chicks can go off into the wider world on their own, which is probably the other side of the lodge.
Until then I will be keeping an eye on their progress and making sure they are getting a proper, balanced diet.
To read more about Pet’s Choice Better Than Bread campaign go to www.spikesworld.co.uk/ betterthanbread. »●To support the work of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside text WILD09 with the amount you want to donate to 70070.