Theme Life

Posted byThe Autistic ComposterPosted inTheme LifeTags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Welcome to Theme Life

Walking around Sandwich and the surrounding countryside as l do daily, weekly and monthly, I take several thousand photographs. More authentic reflections of quantity might be closer to 3500 assorted photos digitally taken monthly once all the poorer quality ‘click images’ are extracted.

Of this figure, ten to fifteen per cent, are held back in folders and will be used in the blog’s gallery features, prompts, or published articles.

My main focus is wildlife, so flora and fauna mostly, but also l have a hankering sometimes for unusual shots, or things of a quirky nature. 

It appeals to my sense of humour, and sometimes these ‘strange’ shots are edited and kept for a ‘rainy day’ gallery or a prompt in the future or because l just like them, and they might make for an interesting themed gallery, pretty much like this series. 

Not all the galleries here will be specifically themed all the time. They might focus on specific events or moments that were happen chanced upon or simply hold a fascination for me.

Hope you enjoy the series
Music Score –Jazz Stomp – Morning Light Music
Designs – Earthly Comforts – Inspired by Nature – see collection here
Mallards I Have Met
Ask anyone what some of my favourite species are, and they should; if they know me well, list several, but list some which are all-time favourites, and if they do, you’ll see ducks and squirrels in the top five.

Today’s Theme Life is about the Mighty Ducks, most notably, Mallards I Have Met!

Mallard Ducks

If it looks and sounds and swims like a duck, chances are it’s a mallard duck! I like most ducks but do have a soft spot for the mallards, and they are plentiful where l live. Mallards are widespread wildfowl in Britain and are found in almost any body of water in both rural and urban environments.

Mallards are long ducks with an overall body length of around 60cm with a wingspan of about three feet. Male’s [drakes] bodies are a buff grey with a dark green head, a yellow bill and a dark brown mauve breast and darker rear, whilst females [hens] have a mottled brown body with orange bills. Both drakes and hens have a blue speculum with a white feathered border on their wings, which is often seen in the females at rest and on the males when in flight.

Mallard ducks begin to pair up for breeding between October and November, and the nesting starts in March and continues through to the end of July. April is mid-season. The male leaves the female once the eggs arrive and has nothing to do with the rearing. The incubation period of the eggs is around 28 days.

A mallard egg clutch can have anywhere between eight to fifteen eggs. However, the survival ratio of ducklings can be variable – 30-50% due to predation. Magpies, seagulls and hawks, poor weather conditions, diseases, other ducks, large fish and predatory animals like foxes. Ducklings take between 50 to 70 days before they can fly.

The Mallard duck’s diet is omnivorous and comprises seeds, berries, aquatic plants, bugs and small fish.
Designs – Earthly Comforts – Inspired by Nature – see collection here
Fowl Language!
The Duckumentarians!
Quacktastic
Some Fowl Shots!

Check out The Gallery for more Photographs
This post may contain affiliate links, please read the Disclaimer for more info.
Disclaimer

Published by The Autistic Composter

Earthly Comforts is a wildlife journaling scrapbook focusing on the countryside, wildlife biodiversity and environmental conservation, flora and fauna volunteering projects, gardening, composting and vermiculture, inspiration, poetry and photography.

31 thoughts on “Theme Life”

    1. The more you walk by the ducks the better they become with you, next month’s edition will display a lot more mama ducks and they became very used to seeing me and were quite comfortable with me standing only a couple of feet away from the mothers and their ducklings 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. You are most welcome Betty – l am glad you enjoyed them.

      The Mama ducks are also my favourites, l have a huge Theme life coming up in September where l shall display the clutches of three mama ducks from later May all the way through till end July – from wee ducklings to juveniles 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Hey Marilyn – very much so.

      Ducks are, l think, at times, real ambassadors. Despite what people think, ducks are a pretty intelligent lot also as well as an emotional species. They are also exceptionally social with people. I have gotten to know several here, and unlike the moorhens, which can be flighty and fidgety, ducks are pretty laid back. I have seen many different bird types and animals sit comfortably or swim close to ducks with no problems, almost a form of symbiotic companionship. I have a lot of time for ducks.

      Like

      Reply

  7. Ben and I used to visit with the ducks at the water feature in front of City Hall. They chased all the ducks away cuz they were “dirtying the water”🙄 You got some great shots! I’m looking forward to the next gallery that you mentioned in comments!! 🦆💌💌

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hey Angie, it was a real joy following the progress of three mama ducks as l called them – 1, 2 and 3 to keep it simple 🙂

      Too many authorities don’t pay enough homage to wildfowl l feel. Society dirties water up more aggressively and yet … people huh?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. We have ducks 🦆 but I don’t know what kind. Your mallard pics are beautiful ❤️ I love way some are colored with that green blue

    My favorite is hummingbird ❤️ I would also say carrier pigeon, blue jay and cardinal ❤️ … also peacock 🦚 but they very loud!!

    But my favorite is hummingbird ❤️

    And favorite sea creature would be a seahorse ❤️ I wear a seahorse necklace always 😊❤️

    Ducks and squirrels 🐿 huh?

    You are interesting.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hummingbirds are beautiful, we don’t have those here. I used to think we didn’t have Kingfishers here but only because l had never seen one here, but now l have seen them and realise the tales are true and not just myths 🙂

      We have European Jays and many pigeons, not cardinals though l have seen pictures of those they are lovely.

      Seahorses are so dainty l think, a bit like starfish. I have always loved sharks.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I did not know UK does not have hummingbirds 😮 how crazy!

        They are everywhere here!! They so amazing to see ❤️❤️

        Yes seahorses are dainty ❤️ is the males who carry and give birth 🙌

        I guess we have 3 versions of kingfishers but down south maybe? Not where I am?

        I looked up European Jays which it changed to Eurasian Jays ? Is same?

        They have cardinals in Maine and Massachusetts ❤️ (other states too but those are my states lol) very beautiful

        Hahaha sharks 🦈… nope I always think of Jaws… nope – ugh as a child I remember when that movie came out 😮 75/76? I was REALLY young!! I remember the commercials 😳

        I am more dainty type lol ✌️

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Oh no, l am still a huge fan 🙂

        I think the biggest problem with Jaws and other shark movies [and this is from someone who loves sharks] is that Peter Benchley the author of Jaws said he regretted writing the book because of the absolute damage it did to the shark and it’s true.

        I know people in this country afraid to swim in the sea for fear of shark attack from great whites all because of that film 😦

        Like

  11. I love ducks and your photos are wonderful, Rory! I haven’t seen many ducks in our area but we do have a lot of geese. Last night we discovered we have owls close by and they were quite vocal – cackling and chirping and hooting. Free entertainment!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: