Here are the Tufted Ducks that Graham mentioned 
… now the puzzle ?
1. I think it is fairly obvious that these 7 ducklings are not just out of the nest and they are probably a few weeks old.
2. Grahams report of seeing these yesterday was the first day that any one has seen them.
3. Mum doesnt feed the Ducklings who have to feed them selves, so if they hatched on our length of the Slea we would have seen them before.
4. Mum looked a little nervous and has not moved much since Graham first saw them.
I am having a guess here but I think these either came up the Old Slea which branches off near where they have been since first sighting, they would have to negotiate a weir for this to happen but that is not impossible OR someone has put them in the river which is what I think is the most likely. Why I do not know but perhaps a breeder that doesn’t want them any more ? Which ever it is still nice to see something different on the Slea and at least they will grow up on the Slea and therefore be more likely to come back and breed on the Slea.
All 4 baby Dabs are still doing well
I noticed a baby Moorhen in the Mill ‘water ramp’ who couldnt get back because a board is used to stop the flow of water by the Millers, the board was too big for the baby to get over. One of the parents was with it, so I put a brick down by the board so that hopefully the little one could first climb that and then get over the board, which did happen and both the parent and little one went back to the other side of the bridge where they normally live When I was putting the brick down the parent was giving me a lot of stick, hissing at me etc, which is natural because he/she didnt know I was trying to help
Terry