Heart break

Because we have had so little rain in the last month our ponds are almost completely empty of water. The Ducks and geese are still congregating in the ponds and stand together in the middle in the mud. This makes them very vulnerable to predators.

At 4:45 am this morning I was woken by the ducks quacking and the geese call in alarm. I threw on some clothes wellington boots and grabbed a torch. Some of the ducks were in the main garden and others were scrambling out under the gate. As I opened the enclosure remaining ducks and one of the geese were right up against the fence. They were covered in mud. They streamed out in a panic into the garden. The other goose was on the far side of the pond. There was a large male fox standing over it. The fox took one look at me and scarpered over the wall. The goose was motionless and had two bloody wounds on it back. At first I thought it was Theo our gander. I surveyed the rest of pond and caught sight of Rosie’s body. I picked her up and concluded she either died of broken neck or fright. I went out into the garden and to spoke to Ceri who was up too. We started counting the ducks that is when we realised Mustafa (see extras) was gone too and the goose in the pond was Lou the female. I went back to check on her and miraculous she was still alive but suffering from profound shock. I washed some of the mud off her feathers and cleaned the superficial wounds. I put her in nesting box in the garage with some food and water. I’m not looking forward to tonight. Fox attacks are really hard if you keep hens or ducks. At least the otters only take what they can eat. Foxes just kill everything. We desperately need some heavy rain so that the stream from the wood starts flowing and fills up the ponds.