pycoed Posted December 15, 2017 Report Share Posted December 15, 2017 Was out this morning feeding my flight pond & my cocker brought me back a newly dead day old mallard duckling! It was cold when she retrieved it from a pile of flag leaves in 6" of water, but I don't know if she killed it, it died of shock or was just lying there. Anyway It was quite fresh but cold. I did see two mallard mating about a month back, but I've never seen ducklings this early/late (delete as appropriate) before. I'd be interested if anyone else has seen them about? We did have about 5 days of decent frosts last week so it's doubly surprising to me since some winters we hardly get a frost at all (low altitude in Loughor valley). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted December 15, 2017 Report Share Posted December 15, 2017 Unfortunately it will not be the only one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted December 16, 2017 Report Share Posted December 16, 2017 I regulary see day old ducklings at this time of year on our village pond. If the food is available in sufficent amounts the hens build up body condition and breed. Fortunetly there is not usually enough food in the wild for this to happen at this time of year , but global warming who knows. I felt remorse last week when I shot a very young mallard ( less than 3 months old ) out of a flock flying high on the foreshore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pycoed Posted December 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2017 My wife was mortified & I am now under strict instructions to shoot only drakes! I hadn't seen the mother or siblings about, but I try to keep clear of the ponds except for feeding. I.m not aware of anyone else feeding flight ponds inside a mile or two but its only 4-5ml as the duck flies to Penclacwydd (WWF site) where there are tons of grain fed every day. It's just strange I've never seen ducklings in the season before... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarepeg Posted December 17, 2017 Report Share Posted December 17, 2017 Saw some about 2week old geese last week on village pond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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