We are down to ten, but it could have so easily been 9 – ducklings that is. I counted 9 next to mum on the bank this morning and thought we had lost 4, but wandering downstream I saw another one on its own. This ‘singleton’ was trying to get upstream which was where mum and the others were, but he kept on stopping for a rest and it looked hard work trying to go against the current and wind. He obviously didn’t realise that mum and the others were only 50-60 yards away as he turned and went a little downstream again. Alan and I were both worried that if he didn’t get back he may well perish on his own, so we watched hoping he would make it back but he looked for cover on the opposite bank. Our best chance was for mum to get in the water and go downstream but she didn’t seem to want to move. After quite a while one or two of the other ducklings got into the water so I threw a little bit of bread in to try and tempt mum which worked and she came into the water with the rest of the ducklings. Alan kept an eye on our singleton while I threw bits of bread in encouraging mum to come slowly downstream and after a few minutes the singleton was reunited with the rest of the family. A mother Mallard will not let a ‘foreign’ duckling into her brood and will often attack ducklings that come too near if they are not theirs, how they know which is which is quite baffling. In this case mum went up to our singleton and to our relief obviously knew it was one of hers 
Alan and I both thought we had done our good turn for the day
Here is a picture of one of the Jackdaws along the Slea…
Terry