John

I was invited to join my boyfriend and his family at Loch Tay. After the short yet stressful bus journey up, I arrived and my boyfriend showed me round 'the estate' of lodges. On our walk along the loch we spotted a mother duck and her duckling, who I named John. John was a confident little one, swimming off on his own and plodding up the banking without his mum.

After a while, we heard him calling out, and his mum, who seemed rather neglectful, had disappeared. We attempted to call him over, waving bits of grass at him, hoping he'd mistake it for food. It was unsuccessful, but every time he began to get closer and closer. After we'd chased him along the loch for a bit, to our surprise, his mum flew down and landed beside him. All my boyfriend (the duck expert) said was, "thank god, I was beginning to think I'd have to raise a wild duck"