Over the weekend, one of our resident ducks (who share our section of the river and regularly demand feeding) started behaving strangely. She was parading up and down the pontoon, peering into plant pots and generally making a nuisance of herself.
Yesterday, she appeared to have taken a liking to a large terracotta pot in which we grow herbs. Slowly but quite deliberately she began pulling out anything living, discarding it alongside. Then, having almost emptied the pot of greenery, she used her bill to dig a large hole in the soil.
This morning, we found out why ! Mrs Duck has decided to turn my herb garden into a maternity unit!
According to our neighbours, who have been feeding this duck for two years now, she will probably lay between 8 - 12 eggs before she takes up residence on top and incubates them. They laying may take as much as two weeks and then a further 28 days before hatching. And throughout this process we will have a ringside seat!
I am quite excited about this and will keep readers regularly updated with progress, though I suspect once they hatch and we are kept awake all night with the constant "peep peep peep" of newly hatched duckings calling for food, the novelty might soon wear off!
No comments:
Post a Comment