I watched this family of Egyptian Geese grow every day from tiny bundles of feathers to fully grown on the steps and beach outside Tate Modern. The 2 parents kept all 5 chicks alive.
My favourite birds!
Currently in Chislehurst we have a pair with 9 chicks that someone had to shepherd across the road as the parents had them on the golf course and then walked them to the pond.
The best bit is I have been feeding the parents since they were little chicks, and now I'm helping them with their own ones!
Unbelievably they are now a couple of months old and all 9 are still with us, best I've ever seen is 4, so your 5 there is incredibly impressive.
In Regents Park it says that you should not feed the birds. Apparently it’s because the bread etc that people usually feed the ducks can give them diabetes. Now I don’t really know whether that is true but it does seem to me logical.
Yeah bread is terrible for them, it can also give birds something called "angel wing" which is basically terminal and incredibly sad to see. It makes them look like they have a broken wing.
We buy Charnwood Marine duck food which is basically ground up shrimp in pellets! Very good for them!
That was in Southend. I suspect the first rubbish collections after Christmas had loads chicken and turkey bits. I bet for the foxes it must have been like... err Christmas.
The fields next us at the school have horses on one side and the other has sheep with young lambs, always cautious that our dogs don’t frighten them especially with Bow who hadn’t seen them before. Interestly the young lambs approach the fence line to watch the dogs and now take next to no notice of them. 🤷♂️
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We buy Charnwood Marine duck food which is basically ground up shrimp in pellets! Very good for them!
From Wiki: 'Harmonia axyridis becomes dormant in cooler months, though it will move around whenever the temperature reaches about 10 °C'
They're parenting skills leave a lot to be desired.