They couldn't wait .... and a very happy birthday to my lovely and bestest friend Pearl!

..... for their little pond to be refilled last night, they just HAD to get in as soon as one of them managed to clamber down into the lowest part:

It had been quite a shock for them earlier when they returned from a visit to the frog pond and found their home pond wasn't there any more.  They all stood in closed ranks stamping their little feet and telling me to get a move on, so as soon as I'd taken the pump out and let the fresh water in they went all around the edge looking for a not-so-steep entry......
They were good, though, as soon as the water was high enough for them to get out again they were off to bed as usual.


Believe it or not, today I've not taken a single picture of the ducks, but we did spend about an hour watching them while they were in the frog pond and we had our tea break.  John had been busy building up the little wall behind the fish pond:

The roots of the ceanothus that had been planted there and died during the winter had broken up the top three of four layers of the brick work, John had a terrible job yesterday trying to get them out, blunting the chain saw and eventually having to attack it with hammer and chisel!

I spent all day weeding and transplanting several plants that had been languishing in the shade, let's hope they all do well.
A pleasing sight was the deep red rose outside the front door which has started to climb again:

Our five at the big pond look a sorry "plucked" sight in the moult, at least the brown ones do, on Candida and Hedda you can't notice it so much.  Treating Hedda with comfrey and plantain tee the last few weeks doesn't appear to have helped her limping much, she comes out of the hut running like a top, then slows down and starts limping again.  I tried on three occasions to catch her for examination as she came out, but she seems to know and is quick to run the other way.  The one good thing I can see in this is that Hedda has the other four in her grip and keeps them by her, so they haven't wandered anywhere near the house.  As the ducklings are getting braver now and have come to see what I was doing in the flower beds near the garage and at the bottom of the frog pond there have been no confrontations with Captain - but I'm sure that's to come!