Little Curl had visited us for some time, and we suspect he was one of the drakes that came in 2001. We call him Little Curl because his curled tail feathers are rather small. There is also a kink in his rather narrow white neckband. On 24th May 2002 he turned up with a mate - a duck with only one leg. The wound seems completely healed and probably happened quite a long time ago as I saw a one-legged duck up at the nearest pond last winter and she is probably the same one. She can't move around very much on the ground, using a mixture of hopping and flopping. She seems to find it quite difficult to balance on her one leg. She likes our new deeper duck tray as she can almost swim in it. Her wings seem to have compensated by being extra strong so that she can take off and land with the minimum of strain on her one leg.  Little Curl and Oneleg
Little Curl returned alone in 2004, and with a new mate in 2005 In 2006 he was the first to arrive in the spring. Sadly he had gone blind in one eye and we did not see him again after 2nd May 2006 |
