What's hatching up at the Duckery?
I have been asked to provide some cuteness and fluffiness to the blog page, and so in the most part; here you go!
The remarkable clutch of Greater Scaup eggs above exhibited 90% success over 10 eggs hatching out 9 glorious Scaup, an example of which you can see above. These lovely pochard types exhibit deep set legs and blunt beaks, perfect for dabbling and diving alike. Their luxurious rich shiny down makes them distinctive from all the other ducklings in the duckery, and they have a special quality which I really like. Unlike other pochardy types they are also quite relaxed, and don't cause such stress to themselves and staff alike from always bashing around inside their coop. They head outside into deep water pretty quickly, so shan't be around for long!
Below are another diving species, but a sawbill the Hooded Merganser. These birds are also pretty special to observe. As fresh hatched ducklings the down on top of their heads makes them look rebellious and completely bulbous. These 7 have bright eyes, bushy tails and clean feet; all you need to see from a group this age.
These goslings are European white-fronted geese and are the first I have ever reared. These three have grown up since the picture and are already charging around the outside duckery paddocks. It is quite a remarkable feat considering the aged nature of the flock in the grounds, with some of these birds exhibiting good fertility at over 14 years of age!
These stunners are the black-headed duck, the eggs of which I showed you in an earlier post. Success!!! For now... These beauties were put out on to water yesterday along with their Maccoa, a white-backed duck and an Argentine ruddy. Possibly one of the sexiest ponds known to man?
