Ducklings released from accidental chicken wire cage on local pond

Photograph by Steve Cornish

Thanks very much to Simon Forster for raising the alert that ducks had made up a nest on a pontoon that was surrounded by chicken wire on Mahogany Pond.  The wire was installed to protect young plants on the pontoon, but it had no large holes put into it, which meant that any water birds that flew or clambered in to start nesting would find their chicks trapped in the nest.  And this is exactly what happened.  The photograph below shows them as they were before they were released.

Steve went and had a look at the situation and says that matters have been resolved and that the ducklings were reunited with their parents, who immediately ushered them off into the dense undergrowth.

Steve says that they will be cutting away all the chicken wire on all the other pontoons within the next week or so. The chicks can get through the larger mesh protecting the plants.