Puddleducks

It had to be the ducks. The day was inclement for all other species.

They are still very shy and nervous when I approach so I spent half an hour or so hanging around in the drizzle trying to be unobtrusive. This shot captured only two of them but I like it because it shows why they are called dabbling ducks, as opposed to diving ducks. They use their beaks to sift and filter edible material from mud and water rather than diving down in search of food. The drake's head is almost completely invisible but there is another image of him standing here beside the pond. The curl on his tail reveals his gender and his green head shows that he is at least partly mallard. The female in the picture is more of a mash-up with her white neck and breast. The invisible one is brown like a regular Khaki Campbell.

I was going to clip their wings to stop them flying off but after seeing the fox nearby I decided to leave them be so they at least have a sporting chance of escape if Reynard comes calling. There's nothing a fox likes better than a fine fat drake. I've never kept one very long.

Ducks have their own ditty, as composed by Ratty in The Wind in the Willows:

All along the backwater,
Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all!

Ducks' tails, drakes' tails,
Yellow feet a-quiver,
Yellow bills all out of sight
Busy in the river!

Slushy green undergrowth
Where the roach swim-
Here we keep our larder,
Cool and full and dim.

Everyone for what he likes!
We like to be
Heads down, tails up,
Dabbling free!

High in the blue above
Swifts whirl and call-
We are down a-dabbling
Up tails all!