Help!

The little duckling seems to be saying.

I called in at the Tewin hide on the way back from John Lewis in Welwyn Garden City and sat in the car until the rain/hail stopped. It was absolutely freezing in the hide but there was plenty of action to keep me interested. First a coot made a lunge for a mallard's two ducklings and got short shrift from their feisty mother. Then the mother had to deal with a group of amorous males.

Things settled down for a while until a crow decided to launch itself into a dive at the ducklings. Mother duck repelled it with loud quacking and frantic flapping.

Jack heron arrived and stationed himself on the opposite bank to where the mallard family were. He then took to the air and dive-bombed the ducklings. Mother mallard did her bit admirably and scared him off.

A while later Jack returned to the same position as before. I snapped him through the foliage. I was ready and got pics as he took off and of him flying scared from mother mallard. It must be remembered that he has probably got a young family to feed. 

I do hope the two ducklings survive, it's amazing how fast the little things swim. Their breasts rise up out of the water like planing speedboat hulls. 

Today's poem is I rose - because He sank. http://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/i-rose-because-he-sank.html

A surprisingly uplifting verse about caring for and nursing someone who is very ill.