A dabbling duck?

Mallards are dabbling ducks - omnivorous, but usually feeding in shallow water. However, this female mallard seems to have been watching the many diving ducks (mostly tufted ducks) at Ferry Meadows and disappeared under water several times to forage for mussels. I missed her emerging with a rather large stack of them, but she brought them back to the margin, dropped them in the shallow water and proceeded to eat them in the way that dabbling ducks are supposed to.

It was a glorious morning, but this meant that Ferry Meadows was absolutely packed with joggers, dog-walkers and photographers. All my usual spots seemed to be filled with men with large lenses, so I ended up feeling rather disgruntled. My mood wasn't helped by the fact that part of Thorpe Wood was closed to allow felling of some larger ash trees in the coppice plots - all good conservation management but it rather shattered the peace and quiet I was seeking!

In the afternoon Ben and I went into Peterborough to do some Christmas shopping. It wasn't too packed and we were generally fairly successful. Still more to do though...