A wild field garden in Bomere Heath, Shropshire, England
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A quick visit to the island to see why there are no signs of ducklings reveals an empty mallard nest (no evidence of eggs at all of the eggs that were there) but nearby, very well hidden, a full moorhen nest.
We think there’s only one moorhen so it’s unclear whether the eggs will hatch. Island is now out of bounds for the next three weeks. Watch this space!
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We’ve started using a temporary plug to block the entrance to the barn owl box during the day, so that other animals can’t nest in it. Unfortunately we didn’t take into account how clever jackdaws are, as you can see (skip to 2:00 if you can’t wait!).
Within a few hours the jackdaws filled the owl box with twigs and grass to form a formidable nest.
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A quick trip onto the island to look for moorhen nests and instead we find a female mallard sitting on a clutch of six eggs in a nest made from dried bulrush stems and duck down.