Life On The Slea (LOTS)

I was ‘stalked’ today by……. ‘Stifflegs’ the Mallard who cannot paddle very well because he has stiff legs similar to how arthritis would affect them. He is only 1 of 2 ducks I feed on a regular basis (the other one I call ‘One eye’ for obvious reasons). Everytime I looked around ‘Stifflegs’ came into land on the Slea (he can fly perfectly ok except his legs hang down) right in front of me obviously wanting food, which I gladly gave him

I saw 6 Dabchicks today, 3-4 of them fighting, but the interesting thing is that I was told there was also a Dabchick down way past Cogglesford Mill. This could just be the 7th Dabchick that was seen the otherday, but last year and the year before that, a young Dabchick went over the weir at Cogglesford mill and I wonder if one of those two has come back ‘home’, we will never know but its just possible. In both years the Dabchick that went over the weir was just old/big enough to survive because I saw them both catch fish and survive on their own for over a week, they then disapeared but hopefully just went further downstream rather than succumb to predators.

All 4 ducklings again survived the night which seemed the coldest to me, I dont think they are completely safe from the cold nights yet but as each day passes they get bigger so hopefully they will survive.

I dont know why I post pictures like this (taken today) because as I have said before, I just feel so sorry for the little fish…

Terry