Some delightful late-hatched fluffies at the Slimbridge duckery!
You wont believe me, but the breeding season at Slimbridge is drawing to a close. Every duck, goose or swan worth it's salt should already have youngsters that are several weeks into their feather development by now. In the wild this is the time of year for adults to moult pre-migration, and for juveniles to fatten and feather up ready for their long first flight.
Below I have gathered together a few last remnants of the fluffies of 2015. Hand-reared they may be, but the same rules apply to them. These gorgeous little fluffballs have got to get ahead and feather up, because they've got loads to learn before winter sets in...
The common Eider has not been such a common fixture of late in the Slimbridge duckery. Having bulked up our flock to 100+ we have been only breeding what we need to prove self-sustaining. This year we have hatched two little clutches of eggs totalling 7 birds. Hopefully these sweet little juveniles will grow up to be a valuable addition to our flock. For now though, their soft little faces and innocent eyes are one of the best things left to see.
Below we have a handsome group of European Greater scaup, with their milky blue/grey eyes singing in the sunshine. These chunky little diving ducks also have a friend in the form of a single bufflehead. Besides a slight size issue, this sweet little duck has settled in well with her chunky brothers and sisters and they currently spend much of the day diving in their tank. It's quite funny really, because the Bufflehead goes into "stream-lined" mode and cuts down through the water like a knife. The scaup on the other hand are so ridiculously buoyant that they need to use sheer brute force to cut downwards, and so they manage to make the water churn like a jacuzzi!
White-winged (wood) ducks are one of my favourites. Furitve, clever, shy, observant, these one-of-a-kind ducks are slow growing, but it doesn't matter how slow they go I always seem to fail to document their growth week by week. These guys are about 3 weeks old, and they're already pooping up their coop a treat! Another week, and outside they will go.
A surprise addition to the desirable duckling list this year is the Hardhead or Australian white eye. Pictured below behind three laysan ducks, these 2 represent the first Hardheads to be reared in about 5 years. It has been enjoyable to compare them as ducklings to the other pochardy types we keep, and to get my eye in with their identifying features. Whilst we still have a large flock in the Australian pen, they are all aging en mass, and so it will be an excellent idea to start pushing some juveniles out and into the mix.
