Ducklings

It is surprising what you find to do when you have an assignment to finish; anyone who has studied with the OU or anywhere else will agree.

First thing this morning before it got too hot I decided I would spend about thirty minutes, clearing what is affectionately known as the fruit and herb garden. Well weeding is not quite the word for it as the stinging nettles where knee high. The garden suffered last year due to either of us not being able to do much except mow the lawns; this year I am making up for lost time. Once I had finished I had found seven strawberry plants, two raspberry canes and two red currant bushes as well as mint and fennel. The strawberry plants have been removed and planted elsewhere and I have decided that this year it will have green beans, tomatoes and courgettes in it as well as herbs. The fruit bushes will stay for now, although the black currant bushes and the gooseberry bushes are elsewhere in the garden.

We have decided to 'rest' the main vegetable garden; it has a lot of weeds in it and needs a higher fence to keep the deer out. Mr A will use weed killer to clear it and re-fence it when he is well enough and has the time. The smaller fruit and herb garden is already fenced adequately. I also did some weeding in other parts of the garden and before I knew it, it was time for an early lunch and to watch the F1 Qualy, which was on BBC this week.

Today two female Mallards appeared on the pond and stayed a while although it was not possible to get very close; they are not very tame this year. At one point they appeared to be swimming on the grass which is still flooded. After a while another female appeared and was chased off by the two mothers. This mother appears to have ten ducklings; it was difficult to see how many the other one had. There are other pictures on Flickr.

Oh yes, I have finished my assignment and submitted it with five days to spare!