Long day… started with a report of goslings trapped the the weir overflow but thankfully when I got there shortly afterwards, they had walked up the concrete slope and were happily on the bank with their parents.
Second call of the day was about Wilma’s nest, I was told one of the eggs had fallen out of the nest. Swan eggs don’t fall from nests, they’re either rolled out by the mama swan if they’re not growing, or they’re taken by predators. Wilma checks her eggs often and is happy with them all, so it’s not likely she will have thrown it out, and if she had, it would be out of the nest properly and in the water as that’s what she does with failed eggs.
I rushed to the lake and could clearly see an access hole for a rat right next to where the egg was, and bread all over the nest again. Waders on, in I went, and carefully picked up the egg and placed it back with the others. Wilma immediately accepted the egg back and started tucking it back in with the other seven, that confirmed to me that the egg had not been rejected by her. As I was already in the water, I took the opportunity to remove the bread from the nest too, then left Wilma to continue caring for her eggs.
As I stood back to watch Wilma, I noticed a poor mallard girl being gang raped by at least ten drakes! She was under the water with them all on top of her, really had no chance, and I had my waders on so in I went… took a few goes and I nearly fell a few times trying it save her, but managed to scare all but one of the drakes off which allowed her to try and get away. One blooming drake followed her though, and had her pinned down in some brambles so I waded over and scared him off too, which allowed the poor girl to get away and she was last seen heading into the bushes.
After feeding the goose fluffs, I headed home briefly to walk my dog and spend some time with my home animals, including Hetty the househen who was enjoying the sun for about half an hour, before heading back to the lake to put up another sign another not throwing food at the nest.
I had another walk around Mount Farm lake trying to find the injured Canada goose, but still no sign. It was a lovely walk though, and I enjoyed some relaxing time sitting with the flock there 🥰
Just when I thought it was safe to relax… a tackled swan was reported so back out I went back out and met up with Josh at the lake, where the swan was caught, hook removed, and bird released straight back.