QUACKERS (28/04/11)

Nothing much to show for today……shopping, a haircut for me and one each for the dogs. A couple of trips down to the river Tees. I make it sound like an expedition, it is! A hundred yard expedition!

Now I know ducks can be daft but even a Goosander cannot possibly loose nine ducklings in less than twenty four hours…….the mortality rate is high but they usually manage to rear a third to a half of their brood. Herons, rats, Pike all take a toll.

Digressing………..last year the Crossbred Indian ducks at Tan Hill insisted on laying a clutch of eggs in the middle of the road and then proceeded to sit on them. Unfortunately they failed to repeat the exercise for my camera last weekend.

What posh dogs! They should be, twenty five ponuds a go for their trim. Mine…………four ponuds including the beard. I don’t have my trim at the dog clipping parlour…..too expensive. Mind you cutting what’s left of my hair is not a long job.

   This is either another female Goosander or she’s hidden her brood somewhere. I do hope they are fine.

      She is………….fishing away happily. She did catch one but turned her back and I missed it.

       These are a few hundred yards away and at first I hoped they were Goldeneye…………no such luck, though they do have golden eyes they are Tufted Duck………..They can’t fool me……well, not all the time!

      This image is cropped as they moved further away.

That’s about it for today. I’m going up to a small village called Westgate in Weardale ……..no internet, no phone, no television………….I bet they have a blasted Street Party! Pound to a Penny they bought the plates, bunting, paper table cloths and serviettes from the brides father.

        Croft Bridge looking upstream…..about the only angle you haven’t seen it from this week.

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to. See you again with three or four posts next week. I’ll post back to front so they appear in chronological order. Otherwise folk get confused. I get confused……almost a permanent state is confusion.

As it’s a holiday weekend I’ll leave you with a Tommy Cooper joke I heard on the radio this afternoon.

Tommy. “HANDS UP…….HANDS UP!”      He said. Pointing a banana at his victim.

Victim. “Why are you pointing a banana at me?”

Tommy. “ Christ I must have eaten my gun, Eaten My Gun!”

All the very best!