Mallards

Day 274 #365DaysWild

Mallards.

Another bird of conservation concern.

But plentiful here. I disturbed five drakes on the pond this morning. Population possibly supplemented by birds released for shooting.

The missing females must by now have begun nesting and egg-laying.

They never, as far as we can see, bring ducklings to adulthood.

Foxes, badgers, stoats, carrion crows, birds of prey and magpies all predate the eggs or the young.

The unregulated release of fifty five million gamebirds each year increases the numbers of predators which in turn puts downward pressure on the breeding chances of ground nesting birds like mallards.