This week brought home just how tough it is for animals to survive the first few days after birth. On Monday we noticed a deer in the field and my daughter spotted two tiny heads in the long grass. The next day I only spotted one fawn being suckled and then three days later the doe was by herself.
This year has been unusual for the Canada geese. Because of the turf wars I mentioned in a previous post the dominant pair did not start their laying routines until late into April and it wasn't until this week- the last week of May, that we spotted some goslings. I thought I counted 5 from a distance but the next day there were only 4 and now 4 days after hatching there are only 3. This is most unusual as rarely have we witnessed a pair of geese loosing any of their fledglings. We suspect that it might be the forst time that the pair have tried to rear chicks as they seem less attentive than we have witnessed before.
One week later there were three goslings and after two weeks there were only two goslings. On June 8th left and that evening sitting in the garden I heard the plaintive cry of a lone goose. I looked to find the mother and her two goslings but they had vanished. Whether they had all been taken or the chicks were taken and the mother just left because she had no reason to stay I will never know. But it is the first time in all the years we have been here that we have witnessed such a loss - 5 goslings in two weeks. We can only speculate that the goslings were taken by either the fox that has been quite present this last few days or a heron that has also been ever present. We also think the parents were not as attentive as we have witnessed in the past.
This is the last film clip I have of the family. The garden is strangely quiet today. The geese are such an important part of our annual cycle of life that their absence creates a silence and a loss that seems unnatural - yet such events are as much a part of the natural order as the more prevalent celebrations of life.
This is the last film clip I have of the family. The garden is strangely quiet today. The geese are such an important part of our annual cycle of life that their absence creates a silence and a loss that seems unnatural - yet such events are as much a part of the natural order as the more prevalent celebrations of life.
May 26 - Today I witnessed a family of magpies - some of whom were too young to fly back into the tree and they were stuck o the ground until they worked out how to get on to the top of the 6 ft fence and thence into the tree. I have no reason to believe that they did not all survive but had there been a predator they would have been eaten I'm sure.
To end this sorry tail my wife was photographing some deer when a fox ran past with a baby rabbit in his mouth. The picture is blurred but it tells the story of the dangers of being young.
It strikes me that surviving the first few days re and weeks quires a good dose of luck and some helpful and competent parents.
POST SCRIPT 11/06/21
Looking out of the window this morning we spotted a deer with her fawn running across the garden. So perhaps this animal baby was both lucky and has a competent caring parent.
POST SCRIPT 11/06/21
Looking out of the window this morning we spotted a deer with her fawn running across the garden. So perhaps this animal baby was both lucky and has a competent caring parent.
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