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My Ducks


tm4tj

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Ducks are off and flying now, well all apart from Mrs Duck who has started moulting. This is normal apparently, when the chicks start flying, she stops and lies low for two or three weeks.

Out every night, but in the garden every morning when we get up.

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Back in 76 the local GP in Mallaig was Dr Donald Duck. He once filled me with morphine so he could draw fluid from an injured knee. I believe his son, also Donald, runs the practice now.

Hi Alex,

When I was working as a manager in North Sea Oil, back in the late seventies, someone returned from sick leave with a Doctors note signed by Dr Donald Duck. From memory the Doctor was from somewhere like Mallaig. My first thought and also those of my colleagues was to carpet the guy for taking the p..s but then I thought - naw - better check this one out, you never know, could happen, stranger things than this happened on a daily basis where I worked at the time.

Still remember phoning the practice number and speaking to the receptionist or whoever was taking calls and we had a good old laugh about it. She fielded these types of calls on a regular basis and said it was a fun part of her job talking to employers who phoned to check it out if Dr Donald Duck was kosher.

Went on to receive many sick certificates from Dr Donald Duck as we employed a fair number of people from Mallaig in the end. Good, hard, reliable workers from memory.

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  • 1 month later...

Heres a duckdate for all you quackers.

Ducks are full grown size now. They still hang around in the Firth just outside the house. They still come back for a snack most days but there only appears to be five regulars. So, one duck down possibly, or maybe it has found a mate. The returning ducks are presumably all the young ones that used to visit, but they appear to be much more restless now and only stop for a few minutes before looking around and flying away. It's possible that they are a mixture of old and new faces, but as they have changed so much it is very difficult to tell.

I don't think Mrs Duck has returned yet, but the one that was the smallest is still clearly recognisable. It was very black all over and it's name was Blackie strangely enough. It is still predominantly black. Blackie actually seems to be the leader of the pack now, where she goes, they all follow.

Anyway, thats your October watch duckdate live from the Black Isle for noo.

here he/she is about two months old, on the right of the pic.

post-33-042688200 1287582546_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ducks are off and flying now, well all apart from Mrs Duck who has started moulting. This is normal apparently, when the chicks start flying, she stops and lies low for two or three weeks.

Out every night, but in the garden every morning when we get up.

are you tony soprano in disguise?

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Is everyone in my life fekkin bananas................

The ducks are easy to categorise now as they are fully grown and full feathered.

Three males and three females, the most recognisable being the black one who is still very dark coloured.

They come along most days looking for grub. Just as well the other 150 ducks don't cotton on to the free food.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The ddddddddduckkkkkssss are fffffffn ffffffffffffffreeeeeeeeeezzzzzinngggg.

Had 10 ducks for dinner the other day, and a couple of stray pheasants, well, that's what I was told. There was an otter running about last night looking for some grub. The birds in the firth were a bit tetchy about all this.

Still the hard core of six return most days for a wee top up and a dram. :twothumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

12 ducks for breakfast this morning. Well they stayed until our new addition, Rocco the dog jumped over the wall and chased them.

The duck family is getting larger all the time. This time next year there will be dozens of them :shrug:

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  • 1 year later...

It's now this time next year.

The band of ducks are still around. They surface two or three times a day and the next door neighbour, Sheila Duck, feeds them every day. The same group of six ducklings from last year and usually another half dozen hangers on.

Blackie is still easily recognisable and the males are getting very colourful as we approach the breeding season once again.

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Luv a Duck.

Had a couple of deer come to my back yard today. Ma Deer looking good and hert much smaller wean, also looking not toto bad.The 4 squirrels, two black and two grey, wre nowhere to be seen and when my cat Matilda saw the Mother deer from our rear deck just below her she foze in fear since she had given her a real scare last year . No ducks here but pher wildlife aplenty.

Goshawks going like the clappers and up to no good, at that speed. usually preceded by a few second before they flash by my incredulous gaze, by a small bird alsp gping as fast as he oe she can towards the safety of the trees.and a coyote gave me a baleful look as he stopped to have a good look at me on the deck--really arrogant and cocky litt;le blighters they are. They hunt in packs and so we don't let our cat pout under any circumstances at night or they are dead meat, literally.

Oh,the eagles soaring above the townhouse look good very high in the sky. Lovely sight .

Smee, I do hope you are joking with your talk about setting fire to the seagull chicks. Behave yourself lest someone might put some gasoline on you. Now that would hnardly be a nice fate for you would it? I can't stand gratuitous cruelty to animals so please review your thoughts on such inanity. O.K.?

I think that people who would seriously consider doing such a depraved act are very retarded . I'll stop whilst I'm ahead. :thumbdown:

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  • 1 year later...

Well, it's that time of the year again. Mother duck and five ducklings boarding in our safe haven. Blackie still visits along with another dozen ducks. Last seasons ducks still hang out in the garden as well, one Blondie duck easily spotted.

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  • 1 month later...

Cheers guys............and girl, here's a duckdate for you.

 

The five newbies are almost ready to be released, but mother duck has been away for three nights now. She normally comes back but not seen her for three days. When the ducklings fledge, the mothers go into hiding and moult, meaning she does not fly for about three weeks, possibly she has started this early so we might try and release the ducklings this weekend. I say ducklings, but to be honest, they are almost as big as the mother now.

 

Last weekend, Blackie duck arrived with two tiny ducklings so I had to make another extension to the duckhoose. Sadly one of her ducklings managed to trap itself under a stone overnight and died, but the other one is fine. They normally arrive in large quantities, but the crows seagulls and herons eat them at will, that's why we protect them until big enough to fly, usually 8-10 weeks.

 

I'll stick a couple of photos on later.

  • Agree 1
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