Quacksquad 2012

Some time ago I told you about the ducks that had hatched in the quad of my new office. Over the last six weeks they have grown and yesterday morning a well-oiled military machine of a duck round up saw them induckted in to the BTO ringing scheme; nine ducklings caught and ringed in under half hour. Not bad compared to last year’s attempt of four ducklings and a twisted ankle in just under an hour. The secret of this year’s efficiency? Mealworm.

Mealworm, it turns out is like crack to a duck and the nine surviving ducklings found a willing pusher in me. Each morning they’ve be thrown a handful of mealworm coming close to feed with gusto, largely oblivious to what’s happening around them while they get their fix. This made it easy to corral them between two wire mesh baffle boards between the shed (yes we have a shed) and the office.

Star of the show was my colleague Graham “and another” Couchman; those readers who have ever been out catching waders with SCAN will know Graham. And why was Graham star of the show? Check it:

Yes, he took on five of the nine ducks! Goodman! You'll
have to excuse me, I was sorting through the equipment...

Pikey Nick holds a duck after expert handling of a wire baffle board. Smithy
however, just popped out when the hard work was over... like our shed?

Quacksquad 2012 was: Graham Couchman, Pikey Nick, Miss Smith, Sharpy, Carol Williams, and our chief releaser of ducklings, Lesley Stone. Oh and me!