On a St Andrews Pavement

Sometimes you can find wild life in the most surprising places. Walking out of the car park in St Andrews I almost stumbled into a mallard with nine ducklings. After a perilous crossing of Argyll Street, managed to shepherd them onto a garden path off the pavement, with the help of a group of students on their way to lectures. Hopefully they will find their way into the Lade Braes.

Swans Nesting

For some years now mute swans have nested amongst the rushes on the small island in Birnie Loch and it looks as if they are going to do the same again this year.

Normally only one pair of swans nest on one stretch of water and the male defends the territory.

There were also a number of black-headed gulls, tufted ducks, pink-footed geese and the ever present mallards.

A pair of tufted ducks.

A pink-footed goose

Mallard Ducklings

On our way to Yorkshire, stopped off  in Temple Sowerby and in the garden of the hotel, mallard ducklings had just hatched the day before. Apparently, the mallard had lost her first brood, so hope all will go well this time.

There were twelve ducklings all together and the female mallard gently shepherded them up the garden to a small pond.

Springtime Brings New Life

A female mallard with her newly hatched ducklings. She had eleven altogether.

Eventually she settled down with all the ducklings safely tucked in underneath her.

 In the mill yard at Acorn Bank a baby chick peeps out.

Saw lots of lambs in our recent trip to Cumbria, but these two caught my eye, sheltering in the ruins at Birdoswald Roman Fort.

Lymington Interlude

Swans, mallards and gulls making a swoop for some food that had been thrown to them from the harbour pier at Lymington. Notice the ice at the edge of the water.

Down to the South Coast of England for a family get together. There was a severe frost but it was a sparkling day and the Lymington Marina looked lovely.

Two swans by the pontoon and can see the Isle of Wight ferry in the background.

The ferry sets off for the Isle of Wight.

Very icy but no snow in Lymington, however, as we travelled back North in the train there was a good covering through Oxford, Reading and the Midlands. Photo was taken from the train window.

A Waddling of Ducks

The mallards at Largo Bay are quite shy and tend to swim away if approached, however, in the Lake District they congregate round car parks and picnic spots, indeed anywhere there might be a bit of food going. These above were in the car park at Pooley Bridge on the march for grub.

These four ducks arrived as soon as we sat down at a picnic table on the shores of Ullswater.

These two remained after the other two got bored. Eventually they settled down and fell asleep next to us, seemingly quite happy in our company.

Rather than waddling these ducks were paddling in Ullswater. They were a bit far away for identification, but I think they were tufted ducks.

Cambo Tulip Festival

 Tulip display in the walled garden at Cambo.

 Female mallard with thirteen ducklings in the Cambo Burn which flows through the walled garden.

Dryad's saddle fungi on a fallen tree trunk in the woodland at Cambo.

Ducks and Ducklings - Inner Farne

Going for a Walk with Mum. A Mallard leads her Ducklings.

A female Eider Duck takes a rest on the boardwalk seemingly unconcerned about the visitors wandering past. The female Eider looks very like the female Mallard but is bigger and has a characteristic wedge shaped head.

Eider Ducklings

Female eider ducks with their ducklings swimming round the pier at Lower Largo. Female eider ducks operate a kind of creche system, and team up to share the work of rearing the ducklings. There are also mallard ducklings about. Sadly, as I feared the pair of swans that were nesting just upstream from the harbour on the banks of the Keil Burn were not successful. The nest was in the wrong place, and was underwater at high tide. They eventually abandoned their attempts.

Pitlochry Interlude

Enjoyed a short break in Pitlochry at the excellent Green Park Hotel, which overlooks Loch Faskally. Awoke to a light covering of snow yesterday morning, but it soon turned to rain, which cleared away in the afternoon. Took a short stroll along the shore of the Loch. Groups of mallards at the edge of the water. Spotted two pairs of tufted ducks in the middle of the loch. One of the nature highlights of the trip was seeing a red squirrel running across the road in front of the car between Killiekrankie and Pitlochry. Fortunately we didn't hit it! There are few enough of them as it is. Didn't get the chance to take a photo of it (I was driving at the time!), but came across this carving of a squirrel on a bench in Faskally Woods.
A pheasant seemed to have suicidal tendencies. It darted in front of the car. I stopped to let it cross, expecting it to carry on crossing, but it got half way across the road changed it's mind, ran back again, turned again and finally made it to the other side.

Mallards at low tide

At low tide there are nearly always Mallards feeding amongst the seaweed in the harbour at Lower Largo. Here is a group of two males and two females.