What is it about the pond?

'Golden Eye' in the pond

We have a pump which pumps water from the river and returns it to the river . . . a mere 4 ft! We've measured the temperature difference and there's nothing in it, but the ducks come straight from the river to spend time in the pond and we wonder why? They drink the water, run up and down the cascade, drink copiously and treat the pond like their private swimming pool. The duck we call Golden Eye (pictured above) because she has a blonde streak through her eye, rather than a dark one, has spent most of the last two days in the pond. She nests with us every year but in the last two years it seems that she is infertile. She used to hatch ducklings (Lonely was one of them from several years ago) but twice now she has failed to incubate the eggs and sits for more than six weeks, getting more and more desperate.

At first we thought it might be her partner that was "firing blanks" but he "attacks" any other duck that nests on our deck and some of their ducklings appear to have his genes!

Golden Eye has already been unsuccessful once this year at nesting on our deck and is, at present, taking time out between attempts. She seems to love the new pond and spends much of her time there. Eventually, she'll probably start nesting upstairs again and will go through the same sad scenario of incubating sterile eggs. Meanwhile, she attacks my pond plants and her partner chases off most of the other ducks that come to feed by the pond.

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