203
Tale of Two Families
BY H. J. HASTINGS
The homes of these families are on and about two small ponds in
gardens of Ardleigh Green Road, Hornchurch—a country lane recently
modernised at the expense of the road waste, ditches, etc. Now bus services
'with through way to Brentwood and Eastern Avenue, plus street lighting,
has made it anything but secluded.
One pond is an old field pond, the other I made by damming and widening
the overflow. Both are about forty feet from the public footpath. A storm
uprooted an oak and an elm on the pond bank, making an easy access to
the water. Various water birds then investigated, and 1952 saw successful
efforts to nest by Mallard and Moorhen.
'29th March, 1952. Pair of Mallard on pond.
30th March—11th April. Duck very tame and taking food thrown;
Drake nervous.
Kith April. Nest in undergrowth on pond verge. Drake visiting duck
each evening.
24th April. Moorhen on pond—"crakeing".
1st—9th May. A pair of Moorhen building nest in clump of Iris orientalis
growing in a few inches of water. The leaf-tops were drawn together to
form a canopy.
10th May. Posing and playing. The duck chased Moorhen along fallen
elm branch in pond until the gradient became too steep for duck. She then
fed and preened, being off the nest for 30 minutes.
14th May. Much quacking and fluttering at 3 a.m. I went out with
a torch, to find nest deserted and eggs uncovered. Pulled some of the down
over eggs and hoped for the best. One nearly-hatched broken egg on path.
The duck returned and hatched nine of the 11 eggs, and the family stayed
about the pond for a day after hatching, after which I saw them no more.
The Moorhen was seen feeding on Limnea stagnalis.
23rd May. Six eggs in the Moorhen's nest. She rushed at and killed
a fledgeling thrush which was taking food I had thrown on grass.
10th June. Only one Moorhen egg hatched.
In July the Moorhens, with one three-quarters-grown chick, were feeding
round the garden. The adults stayed around throughout the autumn and
winter, and in snowy weather their tracks showed that they fed at the
fowls' trough and took scraps from the sink trap.
1953. 22nd February. Mallard duck on pond, much quacking, no sign
of drake.
23rd March—6th April. Drake visiting duck. Then both Mallard and
Moorhens disappeared.
26th April. Drake and two ducks seen; no sign of Moorhen.
8th May. Whilst I was weeding rock garden, I came upon the sitting
duck and almost touched nose to beak. She had no cover, but blended
beautifully in a spot between rocks and trails of Cytisus.
10th May. Ten eggs; duck away until 14th. On the loth she was sitting.
On 3rd June all the eggs hatched and she took her brood to the larger pond.
From 4th to 14th June the family were quite at home, moving freely from
pond to pond and scrambling over the rock garden. They left on 8th July,
were about again on 12th and 13th, the young in the flapper stage. All
were back again on 31st. On 6th August the duck left for good. The young
were about in daily varying numbers until 19th September. They fly
strongly now, but have not the polished landing on the pond. They are
very tame, and fly out to meet me when I bring food. 20th September,
all left. 19th November, the duck is back and calling from dawn to
8 a.m.