Boris and Beryl

Yesterday we received 2 new recruits to our mini farm. 2 Muscovy ducks that used to belong to Huw’s Welsh teacher. After many arguments and we named them Boris and Beryl. Before the re-naming they were called George and Chloe but we thought these names didn’t quite suit their fierce appearance.

Today was their first day outside in Campbell’s Cottage, and they loved it. Before today they didn’t know what a pond was. However they spent half the day bathing in the cool waters of the lower pond. Poor Beryl however was not a very confident swimmer. She was flapping her legs quick enough but she didn’t seem to be travelling any where fast as if treading water. Boris on the other hand would perch on a rock and duck his head in and out of the pond as if washing his face.

Boris enjoyed himself so much that he didn’t want to go bed. Just like a toddler he threw a huge strop just before bed. It took 3 of us 30 minutes to get him to bed. And I’m not exaggerating, we tried everything, we tried to catch him with an ambush, we tried to herd him in close formation, in loose formation, high speed, low speed nothing worked.

Eventually we managed to herd him close to his bed then sort of funnelled him in with a long piece of cardboard.