Jul 112019
This female Tufted Duck’s apparent brood of 19 probably includes a few ducklings that aren’t her own, so perhaps ‘creche’ would be a better description.
It’s been a good breeding year so far for water birds at Carsington, with 20+ broods of Mallard, 6 Tufted so far (though they are a bit later than many other species), 2 Gadwall successes, plus 4 Great Crested and 2 Little Grebe broods.
Geese have done well, too, with between 5 and 10 broods of both Canada and Greylag geese and 2 Barnacle broods, and a Mute Swan pair also produced cygnets though not all survived.
The ‘August’ newsletter will detail other species’ breeding successes.
