Long Pond: Last of the Mallardlings

More colourful ripply reflections in large.

*Sigh* 
The mother mallard on the boating pond now only has one duckling left. She had 17 on Monday. There is another mallard with two (larger) ducklings, but the boating pond is a useless crèche: the pond edges were re-built last year, and there is now no way for the ducklings to get out of the pond. They shelter in drainage channels in the pond wall (while the mother flaps out of the pond), but there isn't space for all of them to leave the water. They get tired and waterlogged, and can die of cold or simply drown. 

Today, there was a dead one floating on the pond; I was going to blip it because it was beautiful(ly tragic), but have put it on Flickr in case others would rather not see it. Other shots are right from here.