Quacked to soon!

Well, the mud puddle is back, and it appears we had a false Spring.  I am not worried about it but the humans are a bit fed up!

I am going a a bit further afield - yes, litterally "to the field" for extra excitement (and bugs) at the moment and my friends and I keep getting chased back inside the fences with mutterings of "for their own safety" - I don't really get it at all!

Talk about ducks making a noise cackling - on Thursday last week you should have heard the shieks - there were a group of very happy ladies enjoying the wine tasting!  Kept me awake anyway.

Easter is coming - all those good eggs

It has got a lot busier in the garden now that the weather has improved a little, our 'mud hole' at the bottom of the garden is, sadly, drying out and not nearly so much fun for paddling.  'Mothers day' here was an especially busy day with loads of bread being shared with us.  Everyone seemed in pretty good humour after carvery lunch which went on all afternoon.  People also seemed pretty happy that they had not had to queue again for their puddings as there were waitresses to look after them (only on busy days they say). Most people came out afterwards for a gentle stoll around the ponds and a look around the craft units.

Lots of people are buying the raffle tickets for Chocolate Deli's big egg (raising funds for the Urology department of Redditch Hospital), seems like a lot of chocolate for just one person to eat!.

Rachel, the Gardener, has been working pretty hard digging and clearing - she has planted two new hedges in the last fortnight and laid a mountain of woodchippings down (which was a pity as the pile was ideal for nesting in and one of my friends laid an egg in it before she could move it anywhere!) One of the hedges which is next to the overflow carpark is a wildlife hedge and should be pretty interesting for insects when it grows up a bit.  The other one is in the wooded area (Sophies Wood), this is where the local school children come for their 'forest school' lessons and the shelter has just been rebuilt and it is really smart now.

The daffodils are coming out now and some of my duck friends have started sitting on nests all day - should have some new ducklings soon!

For Easter the girls who are here every friday doing Millinery (the Hattery) are bringing lots of  'Easter bonnets' (well, it's a Hat sale really) - lots of hats at silly prices (2nd and 3rd April),  On good friday, Fish is on the menu in the farmhoue restaurant and on Easter Sunday it is another all day Carvery (Turkey & Beef this time)- great news, the more people the more bread for me!!

How about this for an Egg!

Getting on fine out here in the garden, and it is even getting a little bit warmer (I have now seen the sun for the first time!).  We, that is my duck friends and I, have been hard at work creating a really lovely "mud hole" at the end of the garden by the rose arch,  we love it but Rachel, the gardener is not so keen, she keeps shooing us off........ but we will win ultimately as she is not here after 5pm or on weekends !   Sadly, one of my new friends has disappeared and rumour has it that the Fox "dun it" so we are now being more careful at night.

I am told that we have a lot to look forward to this Spring, not only are there many frolics on the pond ahead but there are eggs........ Walking round to the front of the craft centre, I can now see a large sign for a "Big Egg" this one is made of chocolate and is taller than a window pane and it is in the window of Chocolate Deli.  They are raffling it for charity (£1/ticket) and it is being drawn on Good Friday (2nd April) by "Helen" from Radio Wyvern.

All I can say is that I hope all eggs are not this big, otherwise it could be a very painful process indeed!

The Big Egg!

Out at last

Well, they finally let me out on my own - well actually, truth be told I refused to be "collected" at the end of the day.  My human carers were a bit busy with a couple of parties that they had on in Ring's Restaurant on Saturday night (a surprise 30th party, alongside a surprise 60th), so it was a bit dark and I took the opportunity to scarper to the Island with my new friends.  (I have now decided that I am a white duck and therefore am hanging out with my soul mates).    The humans have not yet relaxed about me being out and keep coming out and counting us all, just to make sure I am here..... but so far so good, it is a bit chilly but I have plenty of feathers now so am managing fine.

We did have some fun watching a kids party this weekend - 10 or so boys were playing laser tag in the garden and woods - you should have seen them when they finished, they were plastered in mud, so much so that the ladies in the restaurant made them take their shoes off before going in for their birthday teaparty.  They were all pretty happy though!  And I thought we enjoyed the mud.........

Lucky or what?

I was born just before Christmas 2009. The ice was thick on the pond and there was very limited swimming for the other ducks, with snow on the ground and only one small area of "water" around the waterfall of the top pond.

Frankly, I should not be here at all - it was far to cold for me, but my Mum is a young duck who is very inexperienced at this baby duck stuff! She turffed me out of the warm duck house and i felt my feet freezing into the ice so thought it was all over.....until a large blue net fell over my head and I was rudely picked up and pushed down the front of an anorak by a person heard to say "well you have no chance, but let's see".

It all began there really - from the anorak to the top of the Aga in a plastic box, then graduating to a cardboard box with an electric lightbulb to keep me warm. Occasionally I had a run around the kitchen floor and swam in the sink to give me something to do. The food was pretty good and the company "interesting". Since December I have grown into a white duck (they tell me I am an "Aylesbury") and have got too big for the sink and ended up swimming in the bath twice a day.

As to the company - besides the humans I have met three large dogs - one wants to play with me, one wants to sit and watch while the golden one wants to eat me, but we have come to an understanding on that now I am glad to say! The cat was initially a worry, but she seems pretty "chilled" now and we can walk about in the same room by pretending to ignore each other.

The big event last week was a move to outside - I now spend my days with the other ducks on the pond and I love it. Still not really sure whether I should hang out with the "commoners" (they call them mallards!) or stick with the white ducks but I'm sure I will work it out in time. The white ducks seem to have the craft centre customers better trained, as they come out when required with bread for us, so will probably stick with them.

At the moment I am being taken back to the comfort of the Aga at night as it is still cold but I am looking forward to partying on the islands with the others shortly.

During the day there is plenty to watch and see from the gardens and ponds. This week for instance there has been a man running "have a go" sessions for laser shooting (including Laser Tag and Laser Clays) as well as Archery. I will certainly keep well away from this, even if they are not real bullets!