Geese

I’m heartbroken this morning. A fox got one of our ducks in the night. Whilst we constantly worry about losing lambs to foxes, we feel pretty secure about the fowl as they are locked away each night in a high walled ‘fort’ almost impossible for a fox to breach. But this morning I found one of our beautiful Pekins headless in the garden, still warm. The latch on a little side gate to the run, which we never use, must have been loosened over time by the wind and had blown open, so Brer Fox had easy access to a pen full of geese and ducks. Incredibly the four remaining ducks and all the geese were unharmed, though highly stressed. Luckily I had let Sam out earlier than usual this morning so he must have frightened the fox before anymore damage was done. We’ve had our five Pekin ducks for years and they move about the garden and ponds as a unit, travelling everywhere together in a comical little regiment. So it’s particularly distressing to lose a member of this tight knit group. But that is life on the farm. It’s all of us against the blasted foxes. As I walked back from feeding everyone and cleaning up after the kill, I saw the culprit in the distance – as bold as brass. But even though my father taught me how to handle a gun, I couldn’t bring myself to shoot anything. Not even a fox.

On a brighter note, we had 2 more lambs born yesterday, strong and robust and already playing together in the paddock. I’m hoping our little pack of donkeys will help keep them safe from the foxes.

Above: This is Nigel. His leg was broken in a fight, years ago when he was a lamb and though he’s quite lame, he manages to get around the paddock perfectly well so has been kept as a pet. He loves lambing time and every Spring is very protective of everyone, like an old uncle. This morning he was greeting one of our new arrivals.

Baby Phoebe peering over the Ha Ha and hoping for a little snack. We built the Ha Ha years ago so there would be no fence to ruin the view. It’s a wonderful thing as at certain angles it appears that the animals are actually in the garden. It’s too high to jump so they are separated from the gardens by a barrier, invisible from the house.

Peas in a pod. Phoebe and mother Clementine.

Seeing the dams this low is worrying. We are desperate for some good rains.

Calling for mother.

Yesterday, our kitchen garden was invaded by a flock of white cockatoos. This morning it was a gaggle of geese! So we are at least sticking with a white theme. We have quite a lot of geese – Roman Tufteds and Pilgrims. I’ve written about them before and about how lots of anything looks so much more exciting than one or two. Except for diamonds. Then one big rock is hard to beat! Anyway, our sheepdog Sam loves to herd the geese onto the pond each morning after they’re fed. It’s his raison d’etre. He is a working dog and he wakes me early each morning so I will let them out and he can get to work. He never hurts or bothers them, just moves them from place to place then lies for hours watching them. They don’t even bother about him when they have goslings – confident he won’t hurt them. But somehow this morning they all got off course and ended up in amongst the rhubarb and silver beet. Our garden is looking pretty dishevelled at the moment anyway, due to lack of time on my part, and so I’m not worried at all about a few geese trampling through. What struck me most was the loveliness of their pure white feathers against the mist and as it cleared, against the green of the garden. This combined with the silver birch trunks, the white railings of the house and the remaining iceberg roses made for a very beautiful picture. Further up the path from the vegetable garden is a 50 metre border that I planted years ago with white foxgloves. Each year I leave the flowers to go to seed and strip them upwards scattering the seed wide and far. The result is a dense border self seeded with foxgloves … all white. And each year the patch gets bigger and better. Imagine that in Spring. With a dark green hedge behind and a few geese thrown into the picture. Divine. Look for loveliness wherever you go today. M x x x