Along the canal on Friday

On my dawdle along the canal today (Friday) I met most of the usual suspects but no swans.  Smudge was there with her beau, Mama Mallard with hers, the three Swedish ducks were near the hawthorn tree at Micklethwaite Wharf, half the geese were grazing in the high field on Greenfield while the other half were in the Greenfield on the other side of the allotments together with some Canada geese.  TweddleDum and TweddleDee the big white domestic ducks, were doing their synchronised swimming thing



while there were two new ducks, obvious escapees from the allotments.  A pair of large white ducks were sitting outside the fence of the allotments.  They look young and a bit like Maldovy ducks (thanks to my facebook/squidoo pals), but I'm not sure.  I suspect they might be male and I suspect but don't know that they have been released as surplus to requirements, better than being killed!

I also spotted a female goosander.  Sadly just the one, so no goosander babies though she did seem to be a bit friendly with a couple of male mallards.  I know mallards cross-breed but I don’t know if goosanders do.  Certainly goosanders are gregarious so maybe she just needed to be with other ducks. 

On my way back, I was just thinking that I had seen three of our usual four territorial moorhens when I discover there are now a pair of them at Micklethwaite Wharf.  More on that in the next blog.