I may have mentioned in here that we used to have more than 50 mallards visiting our garden every day. They would turn up for breakfast and stay until supper, which was normally when we fed our llamas and goats in the late afternoon. The ducks had been doing this for years, but they vanished at the end of last summer and we haven’t seen them since.
I don’t think anything bad has happened. The numbers dwindled down until around eight were coming just for breakfast. Once they were full, they were keen to head back to the large lake down the lane. A couple of times, the full number would arrive, but they left just as quickly. Then, they didn’t turn up at all. I don’t know if they will return later this year, but if not, I hope they are well and happy where they are living now. It was a good few years.
This is a pair of mallards that I photographed at Elmley nature reserve back in March last year.
