Help - ducks have ruined our pond

speedbird

As you have a pair they are probably nesting! Have you checked for a nest near the pond? They tend to go for small ponds to nest and once the eggs have hatched they leave within about 24 hours and walk to a larger pond which is their main habitat, and this can be quite a distance away. They lay an egg every morning and when the last one is laid the female will sit on the nest for 28 days and then they hatch.

jennyjelly

We netted the pond a couple of days ago and started running out waving our arms and shouting every time we saw them. After the first day of this they seemed to give up and we haven't seen them since.

Have looked for a nest but can't see one in the garden. There is a rhine about 100yds away (as the mallard flies) which is always well populated with ducks and I assume they have gone back there, it's where they would have come from in the first place.

They really are beautiful and we would love to let them stay but they are SOOO destructive!

gravitytolls

Ah lovely pic. We had ducks a long time ago. I accepted the damage as I liked the ducks so much.

Owain_Moneysaver

jennyjelly wrote: »

Pretty much, lazy creature. Although he does prefer Trisha ....

My late cat really enjoyed Juliet Bravo, he really did sit and watch it.

And he could catch two baby rabbits a day. Used to sit guarding the lettuce patch wondering when lunch would hop along.

jennyjelly

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

My late cat really enjoyed Juliet Bravo, he really did sit and watch it.

And he could catch two baby rabbits a day. Used to sit guarding the lettuce patch wondering when lunch would hop along.

Wish mine was that useful, we'd have been making the orange sauce by now.

Our old cat used to love watching F1 - he would try to catch the cars as they disappeared off the edge of the screen. He also used to like snooker, he was mesmerised by the rolling balls. Funny old thing, I do miss him!

Primrose

:rotfl::rotfl:I'm laughing at your post because two years ago we had exactly the same problem with 2 visiting drakes and a female. They wrecked our small pond in 24 hours, ate all the tadpoles and newts and were with us for several weeks, although they didn't actually nest in our garden. Last spring they arrived again, and as I speak, we have one drake and his wife guzzling the seed in the seed tray we put out for the birds. We now cover our pond over around mid April with that concertina willow fencing until the nesting season is over. Last year, our visitors nested in a nearby garden and I actually spotted the female walking down the road with about 9 babies on her way back to a nearby pond. As there was traffic whizzing past, I felt obliged to walk ahead of her waving my arms and slowing the traffic down until she and her brood reached a place of safety, which I felt was generous of me since she'd also trampled all over my vegetable patch and damaged a lot of my seedlings. They're fun to have, but very destructive.
It will probably take a fortnight or so for your pond to settle down again but I fear you've probably lost most if not all of your tadpoles for this year. Expect them back next year. They have jolly long memories :rotfl:

jennyjelly

Primrose, that has conjured up visions of you walking down the street with a whole line of ducks and ducklings behind you, wonderful!

I do love them, and was so proud that our pond has been 'chosen', but they are so very destructive we just can't be welcoming. I'll leave the net on for a few more weeks and hope they decide we're not worth visiting any more. But I'll also follow your advice and put the net on much earlier next year before they have time to make themselves at home.

On the bright side, the pond is starting to clear now, whether that is due to the absence of ducks or the barley straw I put in to help with the algae I don't know, but it does make me feel happier. Also I saw a tadpole in there today so hopefully a few of his friends have also survived. We shall see!

elantan

i quite fancied having a pond in the back but mr el wont hear of it .... how long did it take for your frogs to arrive ? my plan is the same as yours but on a smaller scale

jennyjelly

elantan wrote: »

i quite fancied having a pond in the back but mr el wont hear of it .... how long did it take for your frogs to arrive ? my plan is the same as yours but on a smaller scale

We dug ours out in October last year, filled it with water and then found that we couldn't do any more as it was the wrong time of year for plants. I bought a few bunches of oxygenaters and chucked them in just in case they would do any good through the winter. At the end of March the pond plants were back in the garden centre so we did the planting, and within a couple of weeks we saw the frogs mating in it, which was really exciting as we thought they wouldn't even look at it until next year when it had established. Then one day we came home from work and there were 3 whopping clumps of spawn along the grassy edge.

So to answer your question, not long.It's already given us a huge amount of pleasure (not including the bl**dy ducks!) and I'd recommend anyone to do it.

We have now added a bog garden and later in the year are planning some sort of moving water feature at the back of the garden. We're totally hooked on water!

Tell Mr El he'll have less grass to mow - that might just persuade him!