Phoebe Vaughan is duckery warden at Slimbridge Wetland Centre. Follow her blog throughout the seasons in order to discover the highs and lows of working as an Aviculture Warden at WWT Slimbridge. Follow Phoebe's diary and keep up to date with all the feathery goings-on at the duckery.
Duck diary
Hello again.
Five gorgeous white-wings from LWC We have had a very busy season at Slimbridge so please accept huge apologies for my continued blogging silence. Following a trip to speak for the IWWA convention I have made a sole
14 October 2012
Freckled duck feeding for the first time!
Freckled duck are just awesome! They are the messiest of all the ducklings we keep, prefering to turn their food into a scrummy paste rather than to eat it dry. As such they smear it all over their heads until they resemble a group of little punks! These
28 July 2012
Smew breeding and rearing.
I have been asked to describe in detail the breeding style we use at WWT Slimbridge for Smew. So here goes... Upon hatch, let them dry off naturally in a humid incubator. Take care not to stress them out by unnecessary check ups, and watch out for crazed
21 July 2012
An Avocet feeding at 2 days of age.
I love my job! [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st3TCy8gnwE&feature=youtu.be'] This beautiful Avocet chick hatched out at the beginning of July as a single fertile egg from a clutch of 4. Although initially nervous, we have successfully hat
11 July 2012
White-backed duck.
I love African white-backed ducks. Even as a duckling not even an hour old, this individual grabbed a hold of it's shell top and weilded it at me! They are super feisty, and super stressful! It is the age old countdown of teaching a diving duck how to fee
14 June 2012
Fluffy ducklings R us.
We always get nervous showing these kinds of photos at WWT Slimbridge, because whilst I know that they are having an extended forty winks after hatch, everyone panics that they are sick! These little Koloa (left to right 1,3,4) did not have an easy time
3 June 2012
Nests, nests, glorious nests...
Just a little montage to give you all a bit of *Phoebe's eye view!* This time of year is just excellent. I can't tell you how much satisfaction there is collecting eggs from the nests of birds you have nurtured and encouraged to thrive, and seeing all you
31 May 2012
Cheeky Nene photo!
I cannot help but adore these little buddles of Nene fluff... They are actually some of the wildest Nene in terms of attitude that we have reared in the duckery for many years... They ignore me as a rule, but will beg very loudly when they deem that thei
26 May 2012
Breeding activity picks up!
This is just the kind of thing I would like to see more of! A gravid/heavy (pregnant) female. After months of preparation and careful pair formation, we would hope that birds would be preparing to lay eggs and make nests. General lay time between eggs can
22 May 2012
Ashy-headed geese breeding.
The Ash-heads are finally fertile! After 2 years of infertile eggs 4 tiny goslings have hatched from a clutch of 6. I was always taught that if a female can lay an egg, then the eggs have the potential to
16 May 2012
Nests and apologies.
Dear all, many apologies for not updating the blog in recent weeks. I do anticipate however being able to post a little more often throughout May and June. In the meantime, you can follow me for bitesize snippets on Twitter @YoungPhoebe. This time of year
2 May 2012
Nene families galore.
So you all might be wondering how well the Nene have done this year...and the answer is; brilliantly! After a surprisingly shaky start from exceptionally mature breeders such as BBZ/BAX (2) and BBX/
18 April 2012
The Greater flamingos have laid!
On the 30th March, two greater flamingos laid their one and only egg of the year. This comes with a great sigh of relief for the Aviculturalists due to fears over distrubance caused by the ground works going on in the African pen, and as a result of thei
3 April 2012
The first of the Nene goslings!
Our Nene are beginning to hatch all over the place! BBF began the trend last thursday with her 2 fluffy bundles of joy, shortly joined by BAX who lovingly hatched off 3 goslings. Other females are not that far behind, these include BBU, BAP, BCD, BAS and
13 March 2012
Nene nests!
BAY has by far the most beautiful nest of 2012... Her 5 eggs are surrounded by a lovely layer of golden juncus and a very dense down lining. Sat on the African fence line she has done an excellent job, with 4 fertile eggs plus one that I am uncertain wi
8 March 2012