Family visit

Each year, around this time of year Mrs Mallard, brings her brood to see us. They try out the pond, and often the bird bath. I don't know where she nested this year, but these ducklings are pretty new to the world. Unfortunately she is not content to keep then here and moves then up and down the road to the village pond that is about 250 yards away. With cats, crows and gulls all potential predators and the problem of cars and the duckings ability to get lost, this is a hazardous operation. Last year she had one that just couldn't keep up and kept getting lost, so we rescued it and kept it for two days before managing to re-unite it with the family. She normally manages about a 50% success rate from hatching to fledging, I counted 12 today, I think that was all of them, so we hope she does better this year. The problem is ducks can't count, so if she leaves one behind she doesn't know, as long as at least one is following she's content. If, however, she can here one complaining that it is lost she will go and look for it, forgetting about the others! They don't come high in the IQ league table.