Trudy had seen somewhere that one should feed ducks with peas, as these are much better for them than bread, so she went to get some from our flat.  We hoped to attract them to the ramp with food, but they just did not seem interested.  Our swimming pool then had some half-frozen peas at the bottom, as they did not float!   

The Ducklings Discover the Ramp

I managed with the net to keep them within a meter of the ramp, for quite a while, then decided to back away to see what they would do.  Every time the mother started to move away from the ramp I returned, then having got her back again I retreated.  This went on for at least quarter of an hour, but then the mother got out of the pool quite near the ramp, the little ducklings soon ran up the ramp safely, all but two of them.  The last two were not very clever, and kept swimming under the ramp, eventually they too ran up and out, much to our relief!   They soon returned to the largest pond where we think they sleep at night.

As we had not had much excitement in our gardens, since this plague started, this was a big thing for us and that is why I decided to include it in this story.     

We went in the garden the next day (again late afternoon), and we were so relieved that they were not in the swimming pool.  I had taken the makeshift ramp away and put it at the side of the pool just in case it might be needed again.  What amazed us, was how much more independent they were, they were swimming in all directions, exploring rather than staying close to their mother and they had certainly grown quite a bit larger.  We so enjoyed watching them! 

Some weeks have passed, and all those ducks and ducklings have gone, probably to the nearby river under the new bridge.