Thursday 30 August 2012

Ducks and water.



Where there are ducks there has to be water. Well this was certainly true today when the farmer and I went to Northallerton to get a spare part for his grass-cutter. Our lane was flooded where the beck had come over the road (we had more than half an inch of rain overnight) and when we reached that part it was covered in swimming ducks!

The farmer drove through the water very slowly so that I could take these photographs and also, of course, to give the ducks time to get out of the way.

These ducks are bred for the shooting season. Yes, I know, it is hard to imagine that anyone could be daft enough to shoot a "wild" duck -because they are lovely creatures and apart from that they take an awful lot of plucking and you are left with something that is so small it is hardly worth putting on your plate. I feel like that about shooting, full stop. But sadly, it is big business round here - so let these lovely little ducks enjoy their swim in the puddle before the shooting season starts. The more they sit on water the less likely they are to fly when the shooters approach and if they don't take off and fly then they can't be shot. I wish I could tell them this.

12 comments:

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

As someone who is
a)not fond of eating duck and
b)such a bad shot that I'd be unlikely to hit one anyway
so I'm not really qualified to talk about the pros and cons of shooting. Our rain lately has thankfully come in intense bursts rather than anything too serious.

MorningAJ said...

Actually I'm quite a good shot (but I've never shot anything alive) and I do enjoy a bit of duck. I still prefer to watch them swi though.

John Going Gently said...

i HAVE NEVER UNDERSTOOD how blasting a bad flyer of a bird out of the sky could be called "a good sport"

Joanne Noragon said...

When I was young one road through the metroparks had a stream flowing across it. There were warning signs,Water Ahead, and all the drivers slowed to go through. When there were storms and the water was high, there were High Water signs. The road still has the stream across, my seventy years later. No fowl, as it was a stream, not a pond.

Heather said...

I'm with you on ducks and pheasants Pat, and deer come to that. I'd rather watch them in the wild than see them on my plate.
Hope you have a better weekend. At least we are not as badly off as the southern states of America.

Titus said...

I have to say I'm very fond of crispy duck!

angryparsnip said...

So many ducks ! so enjoyed the photos.
Have you had any summer ? it seems like it has rained all the time.

cheers, parsnip

Leanne said...

lovely photos of the ducks being.. ducks lol,

Not a fan of shooting at all. Poor creatures.

Leanne x
talesofsimpledays.blogspot.com

Robin Mac said...

I'm with Titus, I like crispy duck, but they are surely not wild ducks and are not shot.

Gwil W said...

There are chickens who are born in incubators and fed by automatic dispenser on pellets containing who-knows-what drugs which make them grow big and fat and juicy and there are computers to take them along to various rooms on a conveyor belt to be injected with various substances and plucked by a chicken plucking machine sliced into convenient sized portions and finally bagged in plastic bags and quickly frozen and delivered by refrigerated trucks to supermarkets all over Europe and there to be purchased before the sell by date printed on a sticky label . . .

I think I'd rather be a duck and take my chance with the hunters

Gwil W said...

Duck or grouse?


(sign in many an olde pub with a low door)

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks to all of you who contributed - love Gwil's comment - have not seen that sign in a pub for a long time, but expect it is still around.