And then there were 7

Another day, another duck gone.

weve found a trail of white feathers. We assume this is where it was dragged throught the fence

And then up the field

So what we are doing clearly isnt good enough - thats 14 ducks since this started.

So the ducks have been moved up to the main shed. Its inside , but hopefully stoat-proof

And in the the meantime , we'll get some stoat traps , and I'll have a think about constructing a stoat-proof duck enclosure .

and then there were 8

So the ducks have had a few days in their new enclosure.  It needs a bit of work - eg a pond  digging out so they have access to water.
but this morning there were 8, not 10.

And there was this

Going round the fence there was this - beware , if you are of a weak constitution

We assume the stoat managed to drag the other missing , smaller , duck through a gap  and came back for the bigger one, which wouldn't pass under the wire. 

This is the hole we found  so assume it got in here.

Stoats in orkney is a recent, increasing  problem .

In Memoriam

 RIP 2 November 2013

the mystery of the vanishing ducks - a witness

a neighbour has spoken to us . To paraphrase

I was awake at 6 am and went outside.

 I heard a dreadful, commotion  of the ducks quacking wildly.

I looked down the hill and I saw a flurry of feathers in the air.

 Sounds farly conclusive to me. I think we now have some ex-ducks. I'll leave it a few days and then post an  in memoriam mesage. And i'll find some photos of the deceased

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.........................