Farm Friends - Down on the Pond

A cold but bright day here at the farm today so we took advantage of this and walked down to feed the ducks.  Here is the existing raft of ducks which have been with us for some while now - Dad bought two pairs (two mummies, two daddies) early in 2014 and they went on to give us 4 ducklings last spring and then Dad bought another pair in late Summer to make up the raft of 10.  They are all fairly standard ducks and you wouldn't say there was anything remarkable about them.

On Christmas Day Dad opened his stocking to find some ducks that are a little more exciting - two pairs of Mandarin ducks.  These striking and unmistakable ducks originate form East Asia.  Obviously Dad doesn't want them to fly away but neither does he want to go for the usual practice of clipping their wings (cutting the feathers to prevent flying) so he has made a large enclosure on the island on the duck pond.  The idea is that they will mate and hatch their eggs in early Spring and then when they have an established family they will be less likely to fly off.  I tried to take some photos but they are still very shy and kept hiding away - I managed to capture one of the male birds - handsome isn't he?

Within the enclosure there are various houses so they can pick the one they prefer - in the wild they will nest in cavities in trees, up off the ground.   Outside of the enclosure there are also a couple more houses so if any of the existing ducks lay they can use these although last year they decided to ignore all the houses and laid their eggs underneath this pile of wood!

Kate
Poltarrow Farm
Self Catering Cottages and Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast in Cornwall