The mystery of the additional egg

In order to protect the duck's eggs from the thieving crow Dave adapted an old mop to hang down in front of the box to act as a curtain.  So far it has worked and there are now six eggs in the box, one more than there should be!

Originally the nest was occupied by a mallard but there seems to have been dirty work at the crossroads, as the saying goes!  I watched intrigued this morning as the mallard swam backwards and forwards by the box, looking distressed and seeming to want to enter the box.  I didn't think it could be the 'curtain' that was bothering her because two eggs have been laid since Dave attached it to the box. My only other thought was that another duck was inside and, sure enough, the black duck Lonely has taken over the nest, hence the extra egg.  I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow but we'll be able to watch remotely as Dave has reinstalled the camera we used in the box last year.

 The crow deterrent

Yesterday evening all three mandarin ducks came for dinner and we were surprised to see the female mandarin go into the other nesting box on the river while the 'spare' male mandarin had a look inside the nest with the eggs.  Mandarins are tree nesting birds but, in the past, females have used the nest boxes as night time roosts once the ducklings hit the river.

Female tufted duck

It was bitterly cold yesterday morning and the ramps to the nest boxes must have been icy because a female tufted duck tried four times to waddle up the ramp only to slide down once she managed a couple of paces.  'Tufties' aren't really designed to spend time on land as their legs are set back on their bodies which makes them unbalanced when they try to walk up ramps.  They do succeed when the planks aren't icy or wet though because two tufted ducks shared the same nest box last year and we ended up with so many eggs they were double stacked!  Sadly the nest was abandoned and none of the eggs hatched.

The lone male pochard has just been here for a bite to eat and the spare mandarin male has visited three times already today.  I'm expecting the mandarin pair to arrive just before dark and, in the meantime, the other ducks are turning up in pairs for their evening meal. Ring Neck and her partner are usually the last to arrive.