Before .....

.... another week goes by I'll put in a few photos.

With all the separating fences down now because Candi is no longer there needing protection, I was rather keen to get some shots of all ducks and drakes [apart from Dotty who now knows she can't keep up with the others] on the big pond again.  They're still rather skittish, expecting to be chased off again, so I took a few pictures from a distance:



                                                              (In the background, top right, Anke is being chased by Jay-Z)

On Monday and Tuesday John mowed both fields, and when he drove the "tractor" out of the field enclosure behind Captain and Anke's hut he left the fence open  -  and it wasn't long before the main crowd were through and into the field [not that they managed to find the same way back in again, I had to open up the gate at the top where they used to slip through!]:

I'd seen 3 ducks at the tail end of the crowd going into the field who stopped briefly, unsure of what to do, when they saw me.  2 of them went on to find the connexion, not Gertie though.  I'm sorry to say that Gertie No.II is as thick as two short planks.  The small picture above right shows her near the big pond, not much more than 10 metres from the crowd she was trying to join.  She was shouting loudly, got a response, and yet didn't go further and returned to the frog pond where she lay down all by herself.

  

She was just as daft when I left just a small opening in the fencing around Dotty's enclosure, to stop Dotty from venturing out again.   5 other girls came out without any trouble, but not Gertie - I had to make a bigger gap for her before she found her way.

Honey had stopped behind as well, she found a little hiding place at the side of the frog pond:

2 days after the above photos were taken it was a different story today.  I took the larger amount of duck food down to the big pond as I hadn't seen any ducks near the house apart from Dotty, and they were all there INCLUDING Gertie and Honey:

                                                               The two big pond residents, Anke looking shabby in the moult.

 

                                                                      Honey had found a hidey-hole under this bush.

 

Before I finish for today I want to show you the wonderful and glossy present which arrived from Michael and Peaneh last week:

It's a wonderful compilation of photos taken during their visit with us, even more and better than last year's,  a super memory of happy times together!