Wild ducks appear to have taken a liking to my modest pond

Country Notebook

BUILD it and they will come. So goes the phrase, courtesy of Kevin Costner in the film Field of Dreams apparently, and applied ever since to everything from out of town shopping centres to conservation projects with nature in mind.

A few years ago I dug a garden pond and, indeed, the wildlife did come – dragonflies moved in quickly, newts and frogs followed, and an array of invertebrates added to the mix. A ‘soft explosion of life’, in the words of nature writer Simon Barnes.

It is not a large pond by any means – with a running jump I could leap over it – and when imagining the kinds of species that might move in, I was thinking small. So the great surprise this spring has been the arrival of a pair of wild mallard ducks. I wrote about them waddling across the lawn earlier this month and never expected they might stick around. But they have turned up most days now, padding around the pond and tucking into any grain scattered on the ground beneath the bird feeder.

They make for an endearing sight and, while not approachable, seem to tolerate humans at a safe distance.

Strange that they have chosen our west Dartmoor garden pond and not a more sizable one up in the village, but it may provide a little more peace and quiet and hedgerow areas where the female could nest. The only trouble is that ducks make a bit of a mess. I have been carefully tending my pond and clearing a neighbouring area for a bog garden and plan on planting wildflower seeds. However, I can imagine them gratefully snaffling up the seeds and making a muddy mess of the boggy beds while churning up the water and munching on the pond snails. I don’t want to be fencing off areas, so let’s hope they are well behaved guests.