Yesterday I saw and fed the Mallard with the elastic band around its neck/beak, but I could not find her today so I am hoping the elastic band has snapped, but I will keep an eye out for her over the next few days.
Sadly I have not seen ‘one foot’ for 6-8 weeks and have reluctantly come to the conclusion that he is not ‘around’ anymore. So what is the most likely reason, well I know that ‘one foot’ could not move over the ground very fast and he would also be in his molt, which means that he cant fly for about a 4 week period. So my personal view is that ‘something’ attacked him while he couldn’t fly away or escape with any speed, and knowing that there are a number of dog owners that let their dogs chase the ducks I think this is the most likely reason, however I do not have any proof of this. I have ‘recently’ witnessed a duckling being killed by a dog along this stretch of the Slea so I know this sort of thing happens, I just wish all dog owners would keep their dog under control to avoid such things, most do and it is only a small proportion that seem to be oblivious to the danger. I used to walk my Border Collie along the Slea, but ‘Gem’ would always be on a lead so that she was under control, I ‘lost’ Gem a couple of years ago so I no longer have that pleasure…
… Gem.
Terry