At last, a little bit of good news, our lone Tufty was on the Slea this morning but he isnt now our ‘lone’ Tufty as there was another one on Lollycocks pond 
Now, not surprisingly, I cant actually identify individual Tufties but I am as sure as I can be that he is ‘one of ours’ because he was the right size and colour, also when he saw me he came quite near and wasnt nervous, so where he has been I dont know or even if he is one of the ones that were in the Mill lock, but at least we have two now.
There were at least two ducks on the Hub green that were still waterlogged, I do not know why some are taking longer to recover than others ?
I didn’t see the Coot today which is a little surprising as I nearly always see him, perhaps he has flown or perhaps just on an ‘away’ day ?
MESSAGE for Enid: I only saw 3 white ducks today from the Hub to the Mill but its easy to miss one or two so I will have another count on Wednesday.
I took a small pigeon that looked like he had fallen out of a nest to Weirfield Wildlife Hospital this morning, he would not have survived as his parents didn’t seem to be around and he couldnt fly,he was where lots of dogs would have found him anyway. Sadly he had to be put down because he had ‘canker’, apparently over 80% of pigeons have this disease and pass it on to their young, if the young only get a small dose they can become immune but if they get a bigger dose then sadly its fatal.
Terry
UPDATE: today’s photo is in the Comments to this post.
Hi Terry,
I saw the 2 Tufty’s together up near Cogglesford Mill this evening. I also saw the Coot this afternoon. I had to go up the Enterprise Park lunchtime so I took the opportunity to walk along the Slea from the A17 Road Bridge – No sign of any Tufty’s I’m afraid – in fact I only saw 1 Mallard until I got to the main ‘mill’ path. I did notice that one of the Tufty pair appeared to have a whitish colour spot/marking just where the beak starts on each side so I don’t know if this signifies an adult or not – the mother certainly did not have this.
Regards Graham
Hi Graham, thanks for the update and its good to know the two Tufties are together and that you saw the Coot
[quote]I did notice that one of the Tufty pair appeared to have a whitish colour spot/marking just where the beak starts on each side so I don’t know if this signifies an adult or not – the mother certainly did not have this.[unquote]
The Mum did have white around her beak Graham, as this shot of her shows…
… I think on Wednesday, if they are both still there, I will try and get a photo to see if it is Mum or not ?
Terry