Defending Her Young

The Easter ducklings usually arrive on Easter Sunday, but this year they arrived today; Easter Monday; two days late as it is a leap year.
 
Today’s picture shows the mother Mallard defending her young against a Moorhen; the extra shows the Moorhen leaving the pond. Then the mother Mallard walked her ducklings up the entire length of the orchard, across the lane and into the shrubbery on the other side of the road. No idea where she took them after that, but I hope she walked them along, recrossed the road and took them back into the marsh.
 
The temperature at noon today was thirteen degrees Celsius; rain overnight, but some sunshine during the day.