.......went swimming one day, over the pond and far away.
(if you didn't put a tune to that sentence then you don't have children of the right age!)
This post were started a few weeks ago.
Two weeks later, there were only 9.......
And now.....
................................I've not seen them at all for the last week. I hope they are safe somewhere but I fear they were taken by magpies or killed by moorhens.
That's Nature.
Thank you everyone for comments.......couldn't find any clues among them as to who sent the book.
Thought for the day............You know you are not concentrating when you pour boiling water from the kettle over a bowl of strawberries rather than into the coffee cup!
Back Soon
Sue
Hopefully some of the ducklings will have survived. They grow very rapidly and should have been free of Moorhen pestering after a month or so. Things like Polecats, Weasels and Stoats would be a problem on land though. Do you have many birds of prey in your area?
ReplyDeleteI recognize that "not-concentrating" moment - have caught myself putting my hot cup of tea in the fridge before now, and leaving the milk jug on the side!
Lovely photos of the ducklings - you're certainly right about ducks being careless mothers. One of me favourite books as a child (early 1950's) was Make Way For Ducklings. I think it won an early/the first Carnegie medal. In it a rotund New York policeman helps a duck and her ducklings make it across the busy roads.
ReplyDeleteI chuckled at the boiling water mishap -most people I know (myself included) have managed to prang the car in the weeks after a bereavement... I hope you can keep it to hot strawberries.
Hugs -
Virginia
I see a few ducks here (Australia) at times, never little ones, sometimes half grown ones. I did have a 6ft kangaroo in the front garden on Friday that occasionally happens BUT this morning a koala was wandering about the back yard! My husband has decided if an emu turns up, we are moving! erin
ReplyDeleteI was singing along with that tune ... poor little duckies, I hope some made it. I also hope your strawberries were recoverable - I bet they smelt amazing when they were hot! x
ReplyDeleteIf I remember the end correctly (my son is after all 60 now)
ReplyDeletewhen I used to read Jemima Puddleduck (Beatrix Potter) to him
I think it ends with a line about ducks always being 'bad sitters'.
Thanks for the earworm , Sue, but the photo was excellent. I didn’t connect the coffee maker properly yeserday and stood looking at it as it flooded the worktop with hot water and coffee grains! Hope it’s sunny for your boot sale foray.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sue - I just re-read my copy of "Jemima Puddle-Duck". few years ago I thought I was pouring out a wee bowl of crisps for a treat. Looking down I bowl of dry cat food!
ReplyDeleteMichelle from Wellington, NZ.
We all done something similar, nature is beautiful and cruel.
ReplyDeleteMother Duck said Quack,quack,quack,quack and all the little ducks came swimming back....lol,I hadnt thought about that song for years...and now it will be in my head all day!.Ive got a book about a baby duck starting school and he is very worried,but all ends well.Ive kept it for about 35 years now and cant bare to part with it!xx
ReplyDeleteI can't get that song out of my head now! I used it for decades to teach my children to count back. Maybe they have just found a new paddling ground.
ReplyDeleteJ x
A few years ago I had a mama duck and seven babies at my patio every day. Yes, I was feeding them. I put out a plastic plate with water and four of the ducklings would swim in it at one time. So cute! After they were "teenagers" (a few months) I stopped seeing them or they went their separate ways. Love ducks.
ReplyDeleteThey are just so cute, I remember pleading with my parents to let me take one home one year.
ReplyDeleteI am an absolute sucker for a baby duck which is why I dread the visits from the ducks at the local pond. They bring their babies to our estate which is near a very busy lane and it's devastating to see the numbers dwindle as the weeks go on. I wish they would stay down by the pond.
ReplyDeleteHugs-x-
Well, I think I spotted them here in Nashville! They were at my office and went meandering by. Not sure they would travel that far but they sure do look alike! They were so cute waddling by my office window. We have a huge river and back lake nearby - so we get turtles, ducks, wild turkey and sometimes a stray snake.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that some of those ducklings are alive and well somewhere. I lived on a houseboat for 5 years and would see the decline of duckling and goslings numbers decrease over their young lives. Seals would even grab full sized ones and pull them down. Nature is wild and wooly. Careful with that boiling water! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteI love your photos. I have been singing that song to my granddaughter! We see the ducklings decline on the river nearby.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know that little song. I used to sing it to my son when he was very small and I've sung it to many, many small children in the classes I've taught. I love ducks and ducklings are just so very cute. I wonder where they may be? Perhaps, as in the song, they will all come back or perhaps they are waddling elsewhere. Meg Xx
ReplyDeleteI actually did try to see that line. Hoping that some of those little ducklings survived.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
The ducklings are so sweet; I didn't realize there was such a high rate of loss. Now I'm guessing that might be why they have so many at once.
ReplyDeleteYour brain is on overload right now for sure; be careful when out and about. Years ago my husband unpacked the groceries; later I opened the freezer to find the cotton balls in there - and he had no excuse at all :)
A friend of mine had a lovely pool and the ducks flying south loved it too. They'd go in the spa as well as the pool. Pool guy came once a week and put in chemicals that rendered the duck poop harmless. Still, swimming laps was a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI was in a total fog for nearly 12 weeks after my mom died. Couldn't leave the house without someone to go with me. It was like I was petrified. Between dealing with the trust, getting her house ready to sell, signing myriads of papers, I was lost. Just now the fog has lifted and I am competent again.
My best friend told me one day at a time. Do what you can do and there is always tomorrow to complete things.
Haha, you're right - I started singing as soon as I read the title of the post!
ReplyDeleteOh dear, Strawberries and boiled water. We've all been there or somewhere similar.
Mummy duck said quack quack quack...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the kettle mistake..I regularly put random things in the fridge by mistake. My worst one recently was not putting the top on a (free with waitrose card) take out coffee cup properly. As I went for a mouthful it just poured down my cleavage! Burnt boobs and an embarrassed me. Hot strawberries sound good!