All gone!

Yesterday our girl in box 2 once again had the nest raided and her last egg was taken.  We don't know whether it's the work of a crow or magpie or whether the final egg was damaged during a skirmish inside the box with one of the rogue drakes.  I do know that she carries off damaged eggs as I've seen her carry two away in her beak on one day.

We're very sad for her and her partner because they put up such a fight to defend their nest over the past few weeks.  Neither seems to want to abandon the nest and we've watched them go back into the box on a regular basis but, when I looked inside this morning, there were no eggs.  Even if she laid one it would disappear. It seems that box 2 is jinxed!

On a lighter note, Dave watched one of the red crested pochards as it rested on a nest box plank.  It was sound asleep with its third eye up and its head gradually dropped down, closer and closer to the river until his beak hit the water and he woke up only to fall into a deep sleep again!

pochard asleep with his third eye closed

As his beak hit the water he suddenly woke up

He briefly lifted his head

In spite of a rude awakening when his beak touched the water he soon went back into a deep sleep and his head and neck fell backwards into the water again!  He must have had a disturbed night!