It's Saturday again!

Where do the weeks go, I can't keep up.

Monday 7th:
After I got Captain and Anke back from their excursion into next door's water meadows I kept an eye on our groups of ducks and drakes.    Dotty had been out all day and looked happy to be amongst everyone, it also looked as if Tuts [of all 'people'] was protecting her, close by but not on top of her.  All of a sudden Captain came running up causing chaos among the girls, and jumped on Dotty - the first easy catch.  I rushed downstairs, and by the time I got out three boys were on top of Dotty, Tuts included.  After I'd chased them off I could see that Dotty had been "flattened", her left leg - which healed badly out of position after the break last year] had been stretched out against the ground and Dotty could hardly move.  I felt action was required, managed to grab Dotty and carried her into her enclosure.  I then barricaded the hole I'd cut into the fence which everyone including all four boys had been using for a short cut.

Tuesday 8th:
I kept the gate to the enclosure shut all day, for Dotty and the other 4 girls to get a rest from the boys.  Billie-Jean and the twins often went to the gate to see if it was still shut, but all was peaceful.  I did a lot of gardening in the front garden, here are a few photos:

Wednesday 9th:

These were the flower bunches for the Luncheon Club, I LOVE those 'pheasant eye"narcissi!

Because we were out of the house until about 3 pm I left all the 5 girls shut in the enclosure again.  Back home I opened the gate about the width of a duck, and three of them [the "twins" Vera and Dash and Billie-Jean] soon came out and were promptly assaulted by the boys, these three seem to cope very well, though, and Gertie II has stopped in with Dotty all week.  She is determined to breed, I've had to chase her off the eggs in the nest box every morning this week.

Thursday 10th:

I finally managed to spend an afternoon not far from the nature pond, trying to clear a little patch in the overgrown hedge.  Anke and Captain soon came up, and then I was able to see where these two slip through into the wetlands next door.  

 
I've marked where they went with an arrow and some dashes, they immediately turned right after slipping under the wire, a well known route for them it seems.

While I was cutting brambles down and chopping dead trees I could keep an eye on them and could hear them slopping through the mud.  All of a sudden they were no longer there.  I walked along the overgrown hedge for a bit looking across ……………………. and there they were, almost at the brook one field away!  It is very difficult for humans [!] to get through the barbed wire and thickets, so I dashed towards the house to jump over the stile.  The terrain on the other side of the stile is extremely muddy and it was hard work trying to get to the brook.  I could see our two escapees at last, thankfully they hadn’t gone into the brook.  I tried to drive them to a place where I could also get through into our place, but they insisted on going back to the spot where they’d gone through earlier. I couldn't follow where they had gone, but by a big ash nearby I could hold two strands of barbed wire apart to step through – and promptly got caught very firmly on the barbs.  I was stuck there for quite a while and thought I might have to shout for help [John was filling up the small greenhouse with mole soil], but then managed to free myself.  Jeans and sweatshirt were badly torn, though, and to top it all, that much exercise, running and squelching through the mud, caused me to have an attack of cramp in the night - just like in the old days of playing too much badminton!

Friday 11th
was an even nicer day than Thursday, beautiful sunshine and HOT!  I was weeding in the front garden in short sleeves, would you believe.
No more incidents with the ducks, the two escapees Anke and Captain returned home at night unscathed.

Saturday 12th, Happy Birthday Colin!
Today has been a very cold and cloudy day with just the briefest glimpse of sun in the afternoon - quite a shock to the system after the glorious day yesterday.  I was too cold after the early duck run to go back out into the garden, but took the camera just before lunch to take a few more photos near the house:

What was Dotty's little pool last year is proving extremely popular with all ducks and drakes in its new position under the buckthorn.  Here are Winnie, Daisy and Mocca having a wash and brush up.

 
The Kerria, last year's Mothering Sunday's present from Carl, is showing up lovely now, complimented by the blue Muscari and Periwinkle.  Some of the "Spring Green" tulips are popping up again on the right amongst the weeds [and flowers]!

The peony buds will soon open.

 The Circicum thistles I planted in the big tub replacing the
cup and saucer vines which the snails ate have started to flower.

 The buds of the magnolia behind the house have now started to open up.

 
My two ornamental quinces against the newly painted fence are looking nice, as is the silver pieris under the two camellias.

Bare soil patches you see in the photos above and below are where I've been digging the weeds out.

This afternoon I decided to do some more clearance near the nature pond and also to check up and see where Captain and Anke were hanging out.

 If you can see the stripes in the field beyond the fence - 

John's friend Brian came yesterday to prepare the field for a harvest of hay again

 Anke and Captain were nowhere to be seen in our field or next door.  I managed to lower the barbed wire fence where I was working to step over and cut a swathe through the thicket so I had a fairly direct route to the brook, but the two terrors weren't there.  I couldn't hear them, either, and walked in the direction of our house to investigate the area where I had seen them on Monday.  Finally!  I spotted them in the distance:

 This is the chopped off tree where I'd spotted these two on Monday [from our side of the fence above].

I did some more clearance after chasing the two escapologists back, they were tired enough to take a nap inside their enclosure.  At five I decided it was time to go home, eyeing up my next project of ditch clearing on the way.  This big tree, which had been leaning across the ditch, I half sawed through a couple of years ago, couldn't manage to saw right through.  But the tree toppled on its own some time ago and I intend to clear a path through the ditch again before long now.

 

PS: after duckie bed time.
John came in to ask for help, he couldn't find Honey and one other.  After checking the huts I thought it was one of the twins missing with Honey.  Searches in all Honey's normal hiding places brought no result and we checked the huts again to the annoyance of the inhabitants.  Finally, going back through the orchard I heard a little quack quack quacking, and there were Honey and Purdy - firm friends - sitting in the middle of a patch of daffodils.  Purdy insisted on going into the shed where, unusually, Billie-Jean had also gone, and Honey went into the girls' hut.  It was rather dark by then, but we could just make out that both twins were in that hut after all, phew!