Following the leader

Today's weather was completely different from yesterday's. Not only was there a considerable drop in temperature which I'd completely misjudged by several degrees when I went out this afternoon and I ended up feeling quite chilly. We were also having some rain at that moment which later turned into a heavy drizzle.

I stopped at the artificial island even though I didn't really expect to find anything interesting. The swan stayed firmly on her nest while she gathered the raindrops on her back for a drink so I couldn't see the eggs. I was just about to leave when I heard the sound of ducklings and I was able to spot a few with their Mum among the reeds. I asked myself whether I should try and take a photo of them and I'd only just taken the camera out of my bag when they set off for a swim. I had only expected a small family and could barely believe my eyes when 14 ducklings poured out of the reeds!

As difficult as yesterday's choice which photo to blip was, today's couldn't have been easier. The moment I pressed the shutter button I knew that this large family was going to be it.

When I walked past the small pond during my walk with the sanctuary's Rottweiler Kastard I spotted the 3 ducklings who were calling out for their mother but the only female I could see was being persued on the opposite shore by a large group of males. She did her best to get away from them but made the mistake of landing in the pond where the males started to pile on top of her until she completely disappeared under water. I looked around for something to throw at them to scare the males off but my aim probably being the worst in the universe I only succeeded on my third attempt. The female managed to free herself but the males kept following her in hot pursuit when she came ashore. They tried to have their way with her again but at least she was no longer in danger of drowning.

A man had been watching the whole incident from the other side of the pond and I hadn't thought much of it but I couldn't shake the feeling that he was up to something when I saw him walk around the pond to the side where the female was being attacked by the males under a shrub so I kept glancing behind me while I slowly continued my walk with Kastard. I thought the man was walking away when he crossed the road but it very soon became obvious that he had only done that to pick up a rock that he threw towards the shrub which made both the female and the males ducks take off and land in the water again.

For about a fraction of a second I was prepared to give that man the benefit of the doubt of trying to help the female but then I started to wonder why he hadn't made the slightest attempt of doing that when it looked like she could drown earlier. Suddenly the thought hit me that he might actually have enjoyed what those males had been doing to that poor female and that perhaps he'd hoped that she would have drowned. I'm afraid that made me see red and completely ignoring any thought about my own safety I started to shout at him while I was walking towards the pond again. He shouted something back in a language that I couldn't understand and then started to walk back to the side of the pond where he'd come from.

Fortunately only one male was trying to force himself upon the female duck this time and they were so close to the edge that he gave up the moment I got closer to them. The female looked so exhausted when she climbed out of the pond that I doubt she would have been able survive another one of those attacks by the males. Fortunately they stayed in the pond while I watched the female walked away. I hope that she was able to regain enough strength after I left before the males would try another gang rape on her.

I must admit that I felt very uncomfortable the rest of my walk with Kastard and that I almost jumped each time I heard someone behind me until I was able to make certain that it wasn't that man but someone else. I already had two glasses of wine but I think I need a few more before I can really relax.

Thank you ever so much for the kind comments, stars and hearts on my Great Crested Grebes blip from yesterday.