'(The Heron) went over to the left of the 2 islands (as you look at them), walked into the
reeds and a minute or so later emerged with a duckling in its beak.
Pretty sure it is a tufted duckling. I showed the pictures to Doug Radford and
he reckons it is.
It
proceeded to stay there for 20 mins or so with the duckling in its beak,
periodically dunking it into the water and then pulling out and shaking it. It then flew off with it in its beak to the far side of the
mere and continued to play with it. Eventually it seemed to just
leave it lying there. I didn’t actually see if it ate it or not.' SS
This is such a pity! The tufted duck family started with 8 ducklings, but I suspect this heron took them all. It was seen taking some when they were small, and following the family around the mere as if stalking them. I had hoped that the last survivor was big enough to escape, but sadly no.
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