Working Cocker: Sopping Wet

See all of the water flicking off his coat in large ("L").

This is different for me! I'm not mad about dogs (...), but we used to have a cocker spaniel so they seem more appealing than most. The mallardlings on Long Pond had settled down for a snooze, so I went to check back on the Goosles on Eagle Pond (I'd moved on before as they were snoozing on the island...), but encountered a couple with two large cocker spaniels who were having great fun chasing after a ball... The couple had two dogs: a larger, mostly black one (grey around its mouth) and this smaller, pale one. I found their behaviour intriguing: the man would throw the ball into the water and both dogs would follow it, but the black dog would invariably get to the ball first (it was a stronger swimmer), and turn to swim back only to be met by the pale one which would harass it until it handed over the ball. This happened every time: the black dog would retrieve the ball then hand it over (without resistance) to the pale one. It turns out that they are father (black one) and son (pale one) but I found it interesting that they play so co-operatively.

I took photos of the mallardling too: the mother still has nine, and they're looking more like little ducks now with quite a few feathers showing over their down. I've uploaded a photo of one of them jumping up out of the water to join its mother on the sandbags that are protecting a recently repaired part of the pond's side.

On returning to Eagle Pond, it became clear that the Goosles weren't going to leave the island: there were loads of anglers on the pond, and that tends to push the birds away from the edge... Ann has spoken to the Swan Sanctuary and still thinks that the injured Gosling ought to be checked out as its neck shouldn't be so large; I hope that she manages to catch it soon so that it can get the help it needs. :-(

p.s. Last year's photo was an unusual sight: a coot flying! That is the first and only time that I've seen a coot flying clear of the water... ---->