Palechest finds his perfect mate

 
On 22nd April 2002, Palechest, who visited us through summer 2001 and was a great nuisance to Mr & Mrs Duck, turned up with a peculiar little duck. She was also very pale, with a very short neck and beak. Fred reckoned she was crossed with a pigeon!

Mr and Mrs Palechest 2002
Mr and Mrs Palechest

We hoped that having a mate would lessen Palechest's interest in our ducks, but not a bit of it. In the evening the Palechests were here when our own two arrived. Palechest immediately abandoned Mrs Palechest to go and bother Mr & Mrs Duck again. Mrs Palechest continued to stay by the feed dishes. I chased Palechest up onto the park and then went back to chase her to join him. She's quite the noisiest duck I've ever heard, and protested loudly at this. Nothing would induce her to do what she didn't want to do. I tried waving my hands, clapping, all without success except to produce another demonstration of her vocal skills. Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Duck had fled into another garden, but quickly crossed to ours to feed once the coast was clear. I had to stand between the pairs, throwing food in two directions at once to keep them all happy. Finally Mr and Mrs Duck flew off, but Palechest set off in pursuit. He then returned to the roof of the house opposite, where he sat and called Mrs Palechest who was in the garden below. Meanwhile, she set up the most terrible din, wanting him to come down. The people who lived in the house were looking out of the window to see what was going on. Eventually Palechest flew down and the pair settled down on the verge beside the road and didn't leave until about 10:30 pm. They were back at 5:30am the next morning when I happened to look out, and Mrs Palechest was here for most of the day.

Mrs Palechest 2002

The next night, the same neighbour was trying to park her car, but Mrs Palechest was standing in the way and refused to budge until I went out and moved her.

I was afraid this tiny little duck would drive our regular ducks away, or get a complaint from our neighbours, but we haven't seen her again since. Now we quite miss her.

It seems possible that she is an escaped call duck. You can find out more about call ducks.

Palechest didn't return in 2003