We did our best

Tweet

Our anti-magpie net did seem to be working, they certainly seemed to spend less time hanging about in the nearby trees and Mrs Mallard regularly came and went along her little tunnel and seemed quite comfortable with it. And there should have been just a few more days to wait. But 28 days came and went, and she was still sitting there. Then 30 days, 32 days, and when she was away from the nest I could still see two eggs. Eventually my partner reported that he had only seen one egg, and the next day the nest was empty, but no sign of any ducklings. Mrs Mallard was seen hanging about the pond on her own, and then the next day she didn’t come back. I don’t know what happened. Did the eggs get stolen by a particularly cunning magpie or some other creature? Did they hatch and the ducklings get eaten? Maybe they weren’t fertile and were never going to hatch and she abandoned them and then something took them. All I know is that at least one of the original four eggs did contain a duckling, because you don’t get blood from an egg A sad end to the story. But we did our best. Maybe we should build a floating duck house in case they come back next year. In the photo the nest is just behind and a little to the right of the blue iris flower. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2026.