And then there were 4

The attrition  of the ducks has continued. Another 3 have disappeared in the last few days  - the otter(s)  clearly keep on returning,
So something had to be done.

The duck enclosure was adjacent to the burn , giving them access to running water , but the otters will be gaining access along the water courses.

So we have moved the duck enclosure away from the burn.

Some nifty construction with a discarded farm gate,  a discarded shed door and some sheep hurdles

2 drakes and 2 hens is not agood balance  - so the drakes ended up having a pushing and shoving match over one of the hens.

But things should improve soon, as we are getting some new adult females.

And then there were 7

We've had a good crowd of ducks.
Because of a drakes' sexual appetite you need a good few  females per male, so the female ducks get some peace.
And over the last week we have been losing ducks.
The initial problem was a stoat that got into the duke enclosure and killed  one andinjured another.
But the attrition has gone on .
We've have had problems with otters taking ducks in the past in 2016   and in 2013.

But the past 10 days has been bad - we have lost 8 ducks .
One body was found in the pond and the other on the moorland.  We think the ducks got access to the  moorland  because a grid blocking a burn was displaced with the bad rain weve been having.
And the other in the pond was probably getting out of the enclosure .,
Anyway , if you are of a weak disposition , look away now




You have been warned























LOOK AWAY NOW

And then there were three.

Victoria the duck

Victoria the duck ( remains of )

And the otters have been back and  taken Victoria , the duck. The remains were found on the moorland that adjoins the pond. When this land is fenced with sheep-fencing it should be easier,   adding  chicken-wire to the fencing and  hopefully discourage the otters from encroaching on the ducks and pond, and the ducks onto the moorland. In the meantime  some improvised fencing  around the pond

 And some pictures from a few days ago when Victoria was happy on the pond with the others. 

And then there were four

Dont read ( or look) on if you are of  a sensitive disposition . 

The labels to this post are are "ducks" and "otter" . 

Have a guess what has happened if  'duck' and 'otter'  are in the same post.

You have been warned

So we went to lock the ducks up and there were only four of them. The one that was missing was one that  had a bit of a limp for a  couple of days . After a quick look round the adjacent  land there was no sign of the limping duck.

  

And on closer inspection there were quite a few feathers  scattered around the grass - certainly more than is usual

So I thought I'd better have a look along the burn. There were feathers in the water and stuck to the vegetation along the  burn.

And a bit further up the stream we found the (inevitably, by now ) ex -duck .

Dont read (or look) on if you are of  a sensitive disposition . 

( more detailed pictures on request if you are interested  in which parts of the duck the otter took )


According to 'tweb they normally hunt at night. This one - if in fact it is an otter that is doing this , but no-one has come up with an alternative suggestion- is hunting through the day , so its either very hungry, or very confident.
 I need to find out about otters and their hunting habits. We can put  wire mesh grids in the watercourses that run into the pond, but there is no point doing that if the animals are prepared to go  onto the land to go round any obstacle.
  We wonder if the limping was caused by an attempt from the otter a couple of days ago . And  this one was the slowest out of the water or away from the pond  when it came back to finish off the job.

Or we can fence the land either side of the stream  they are hunting in . But how far out from the burn do we need to fence ?
The side of the burn are overgrown, so   is there any point in cutting back the vegetation for a distance away from the pond ?
Is it worth it at all  or do i just need to sort out  one of the other ponds we have and move the ducks. It would be a shame because  this  pond has lots of fresh , running water.

So we will fence it off a bit, and not get any  more ducks  pending more information.

The mystery of the vanishing ducks - a suspect

The European Otter (Lutra lutra) eat fish and anything else that moves  near water. This can inlcude water birds. The burn is an otter super-highway.

So its likely that the pet ducks  were taken by the otter.  So the next project is to lock the ducks up at night. Last time we tried that, they were too stupid to cotton on . So we will have to try again.  Perhaps the ducks would have received a Darwin Award , were animals eligible.

The burn is very nice, but.........................