We have had our suspicions for a while now that one of the group was about to have a family - she has been missing at meal times and was no where to be seen. Now we can see why... she has 17 ducklings under her wing and is trying very hard to keep control of them all at once - not an easy task. There are alsorts of things for her to worry about - Moorhens (who are frightful bullies and jealous types), carion crow, foxes and people (who can get too close and step on them). 
Looking at her brood she has clearly had a wild time of it with black ones as well as all the yellows (which will be whites).Rumour also has it that there are more on the way elsewhere - more ducks sitting and some of their eggs have also dissapeared into the incubator.
Now that the weather has improved and the evenings are a lot lighter we are seeing a lot more activity in the gardens and elsewhere. This week there was a very smelly Curry Night in the restaurant on Thursday.
Saturday and Sundays are nice too - several visitors are walking or cycling out early to have breakfast with us in the garden (9:30 - 11:45 Sat & Sun)
Coming up there is a Spanish night and a beer festival in May (in the gardens). Should be fun - we love people watching (especially when they bring us bread).
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