RIP Gertie

We've 2 groups of geese. One of the the  three living in the Burn Field  has been sitting on some eggs.  The other pair hang round the drive and pond ( and house) . And the female (Gertie) has been laying eggs - but we think the ravens or hoodies have been taking them - we have found broken goose eggs in the fields.

For the last few days she has been sitting - on nothing-  in various places.
And today we found her on the  empty nest she had made previously.
Very strange - usually whne you approach  a goose they hiss at you , but she didnt. She was very limp and not reacting .

So something clearly was amiss.

And this afternoon on checking on her , we found that she had died. if the information we were given when we received her was accurate , she would be 7 years of age. And dometic geese and live up to the age of 30  so it was unlikely to be 'old age' .

RIP Gertie

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the eggless turkey nest

So there have been a couple of ravens around , and the hoodies ( hooded crows) , and the turkey nest is empty .
1 +1 = ?
 Adn weve found some empty, broken eggs

and te nest is empty of eggs

so ive added some netting to see if that dissuades the maruaders.

we found the duck

A few days ago one of  our ducks went missing. We did wonder if it was  AWOL, as a duck has been before and would reappear in a month or so , with a few additions.

But we found the missing duck

See it ?




Heres a close-up .

Of the wings

And  bit further on,  the legs

If it was an otter that killed the duck, why would its body be in bits and so far from the water. So perhaps its was caught and killed by an  otter and then a scavenger - a raven or crow - has taken the remains and scattered them about. 

Anyway , we are one duck fewer .