2003

 
In 2003 our ducks returned on 8th March -
two weeks earlier than ever before.

Mr & Mrs Duck, 09/03/2003
Oneleg & Little Curl, 17/03/2003 On 17th March we were overjoyed that Oneleg reappeared.
We had not expected her to survive.
Here she is with Little Curl.
That morning I had to break the ice on the dishes.

Two other pairs were also visiting by this time. We think one pair are Mr & Mrs Verynervous.

Mr & Mrs Nocurl didn't seem to mind the cold water,
but why did Mrs Nocurl choose to stand on the ice?

Sadly, Mr Nocurl died in an accident on 18th April.
Standing on ice, 23/03/2003

More recent arrivals are Mr & Mrs Halftail. We think Mr Halftail came last year, when we called him Notail.

This year Mr & Mrs Duck have used our pond even more than last year. I also discovered that Mrs Duck adores earthworms and slugs. I collected a few while I was gardening and kept them a box for her. We called it Mrs Duck's wormery, but it was often the blackbird that gets there first.

As in previous years, towards the end of the season we saw a large number of strange ducks which seemed to hold a street party every morning at 5 a.m. One morning I counted sixteen. Fortunately most of our neighbours like ducks!

On another morning they left us a present:

egg