Psilos Wildfowl Photography |
Shelduck Page 2 |
It is difficult to know just how many pairs
at Martinmere this year. The largest creche had 36 ducklings in it and
they were only looked after by one male and one female. I do not think
for one minute though that all the young ones belonged just to them.
I also saw about half a dozen other pairs with young of their own. |
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These ducklings are about 2 weeks old and are
well able to forage for themselves. The adults are never far away though
keeping watch over them. |
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By the time they have reached the stage
shown below the juveniles are about 6 weeks old. |
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Sometimes Shelducks lay their eggs in other
birds nests. At Martinmere in the nursery sometimes Shelducks hatch
out with other rarer ducks where the eggs have been collected from nest
boxes. The photo below shows such an juvenile. They will be reared and
then released onto the reserve. They will not have their wings clipped
and will be left to become wild birds like all the other Shelducks. |
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Both the male and the female Shelduck stayed
with their charges until they were quite well grown. As is the way of
nature quite a few of the young disappeared presumabley lost but happily
quite a number of them did fledge. The duckling in the photo above with
the female is about 6 weeks old. |
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This duckling is about 8 weeks old and you can
see the beginnings of the adult plumage showing through. I never saw
any of the young ones after this stage. Presumably they fledged and
flew off to explore their big, new world. |
