An evening walk along the Caldon Canal.

So far May has been warm and fairly dry, though with heavy showers on the 9th, 10th and 11th May and last night to help keep the gardens and countryside watered. Yesterday evening I walked along the Caldon Canal from Endon down to Baddeley Green. My aim was to see if the Snipe that had been present, and occasionally displaying earlier in the year on the upper Trent valley near Baddeley Green, were still around. As I had planned I arrived at the place where I had seen them before I didn't see or hear any so I assume that that area is just too dry during the spring and summer to support breeding birds. However I had a lovely walk and saw, smelt and heard plenty of other wildlife.

Flowers.

May blossom and Cow Parsley on the John Emery land - Endon. 

First of all the smell of hawthorn blossom and Cow Parsley was pervading the air, which, along with its abundance made for a very pleasant atmosphere. And, as with 2013, we seem to be having another good Meadow Buttercup year; the meadows are full of them.

Birds.

Starling roost at Baddeley Green

Secondly, many bird species were singing an evening chorus, notably the Robins were more vociferous than they have been in recent mornings. There were several males singing from the willows etc. along the disused railway line. I also heard  a Reed Bunting in the willow scrub in its accustomed territory adjacent to the canal at Stanley Moss. Several Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats and Garden Warblers and a single Song Thrush  were also present. In the small plantation near Stanley Road (by the Stockton Brook Golf Club) I watched Woodpigeons eating either the emerging leaves or flower buds of the Ash trees. young Rooks in the rookery there testing their feathers as they prepare to leave the nest for the first time, heard a Jay harrassing the Blackbirds in the same copse. Then further down into Baddeley Green I discovered that the Jackdaw roost that is present in winter is also occupied during spring; presumably these are non-breeding birds, as their conspecifics are busy with nests in other places (e.g. the chimneys of my neighbours houses). And I managed to take this blurry photo of a male Grey Wagtail near Stockton Brook.

Male Grey Wagtail in Sycamore tree on side of Caldon Canal  near Stockton Brook.

Mammals.
Plenty of Rabbits were out nibbling the pastures alongside cattle under, what presumably, is the relative safety of dusk light. And as darkness arrived bats appeared to feed on the numerous insects that were flying over the canal and along the hawthorn hedges; perhaps the blossom attracts the insects and this in turn attracts the bats? 

Photos of Caldon Canal towpath upgrade.

The new cycle path surface. 

Coir rolls in place along the Caldon Canal between Ednon and Stockton Brook. The coir rolls are intended to reduce bankside erosion and be more sympathetic with wildlife interests than would be hard engineering see below.

The engineers have had to use hard engineering along this short section of the towpath. Clearly, had they used this along the whole length the hard,vertical edge would have been inimical to aquatic mammals, amphibians and reptiles which use this canal. I think the soft engineering look  is a lot more aesthetic too!

Do ducks carry their eggs to safety?

On the morning of 6^th May on the Caldon Canal, near Hazelhurst Junction, an unusual event occurred. A female Mallard plus two males took off from the side of the canal. The strange thing was that the duck had what appeared to be a whole egg in her bill. The two drakes followed close behind her. The duck shortly dropped the “egg” and it entered the canal water and sank. Initially it appeared as though the drakes were chasing the duck in order to mate with her, after all this is a commonly seen behaviour at this time of year – it being the breeding season. The next day a fox was seen in the same place as the Mallards had been seen the day before. I decided to find out what might have be going on. There isn't much information about this phenomenon on the internet but this is what I did find.

In 1978 The Wilson Bulletin (published in the United States) describes observations of (American) Wood Ducks carrying, what were perhaps, whole eggs. It seemed that, when a predator - in this case Red-bellied Woodpeckers, had broken some of the eggs in a duck's nest she removed at least one of the remaining eggs to a new site. It is speculated that this is an attempt to save her remaining offspring from predation. According to this paper (see link below) this observation, by individuals from this species in particular, has been recorded several times. In an attempt to test the theory that the ducks were influenced by the action of predators an experimenter placed broken eggshells on previously un-predated nests whilst the ducks were temporarily absent. On their return the ducks removed an egg or eggs. In another paper written by an American and a British academic, the second from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge (Glous.), the authors document reports of parent birds of various species carrying their young to safety either on their backs or in their bills. In this paper, egg carrying by Mallards and other species of Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks), is described (see second link below) though in this paper they mention only addled eggs being removed from nests. The authors discuss how unlikely it seems given that the anatidine bill is poorly adapted for carrying items as they write that these species do not directly feed their young or courtship feed, and appear to have difficulty carrying nest material in their bills.

So, it seems we can't be sure what was observed, but perhaps the presence of the fox seen the next day is significant. Maybe the birds were disturbed by the fox and all three flew up, the female's instinct impelling her to grab the egg which she subsequently dropped. Had it been a fresh egg presumably it would have eventually risen to the water's surface and floated, whereas an addled egg would stay under water. Next time we see something like this we will watch to see if the egg sinks or floats! Anyway, whatever is the actual story it certainly prompted some interesting speculation!

https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v090n01/p0131-p0132.pdf

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=biosciornithology

A Mallard and her ducklings.