Sunday 22nd March 2015, 3.00pm (day 1,305)
I’d just like to say a big thank you to the duck at this point.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: duck
Feed me
Friday 6th March 2015, 10.35am (day 1,289)
On quiet days spent working at home, at least the ducks down by the river in town usually provide a photo opportunity. This one gave it up for the camera but definitely was after something in return, like food, mainly.
Mallard couple
Tuesday 6th January 2015, 3.55pm (day 1,230)
As a contrast to the fighting poultry of a few days ago, here, a much more serene couple. Little to see today, a second day in a row spent mostly working at home with grey light — declining daylight and a longish zoom account for this shot’s lack of focus.
Duck fight
Saturday 3rd January 2015, 3.20pm (day 1,227)
The muscovy ducks on the marina were getting aggressive this afternoon. Two began fighting, I assume over the third, all-white one (a female?) visible in the background of this shot, looking on while the battle she has provoked rages in her honour. Couldn’t alter the camera settings quickly enough to have a chance of capturing the shot with any sharpness, considering how fast they were moving in the low light. But what gets me about it is their placid-looking smiley faces, which here persist even when a rival is pecking on one’s back.
Mallard
Wednesday 3rd December 2014, 12.50pm (day 1,196)
Pictured on the Hebden Water this afternoon. A sunny day but a damn cold one, certainly the coldest so far in 2014.
Taking a drink
Saturday 18th October 2014, 2.15pm (day 1,150)
In recent months the Muscovy duck which has featured several times on this blog has been joined by four more, all said to have escaped (or been deliberately released) from a duck farm nearby — which is probably where the ‘original’ one came from as well, as this species is not native to Europe. However, if there are both boys and girls in the flock now, who knows, perhaps we could start a whole new Yorkshire colony. This is one of the newer ones, taking a drink on a Saturday afternoon.
The Muscovy duck finds a companion
Wednesday 28th May 2014, 4.10pm (day 1,007)
It is over two years since this creature set up home in Hebden Bridge marina, first appearing on the blog in February 2012. As I have observed before, it is a long way from its natural home. I saw it standing outside the entrance to the tourist information office this afternoon, and thought at first that it was after food or something, but looking at this shot I wonder whether it might not just have been finding company in its reflection. This is the Muscovy duck’s fourth appearance on the blog (the remaining unlinked one is here) — few people have been on it as often.
Wildfowl wanderings
Thursday 1st May 2014, 10.45pm (day 980)
Why did the ducks and Canada goose cross the road? To get to the other side, of course.
The next allotment
Sunday 19th January 2014, 2.50pm (day 878)
Glorious afternoon today, with sunlight streaming onto the allotments in late afternoon. Our neighbours (garden-wise) are much more organised than us. The green netting is evidence of that alone, but look — they have poultry. Why don’t we have poultry?
The Muscovy duck finds a space for the night
Friday 6th December 2013, 7.05pm (day 834)
This Muscovy duck now lives permanently by the canal in the centre of town, opposite the Railway pub. (The wood beneath it on this photo is the gate of the dry dock.) It has been here for nearly two years now, and this is its third appearance on the blog, making it the first animal to definitively appear on here three times (as many times as my mother-in-law, I note…). According to Avian Web, the species is native to South America but is spreading through North America. It is certainly not native to the UK, or even Europe. Either it got blown a long way from home or — more likely — it is an escaped pet. It seems to have found for itself an amenable spot to retire to, either way.
Being 42 