Suffolk holiday cottages going all Springwatch again

We are very lucky to experience our own little snippets of nature amongst our Suffolk holiday cottages and by far and away the highlight for me this year has been our batch of ducklings. Our holiday cottage guests have loved them too and have even been involved in feeding them.

I bought an old derelict farmhouse in May 2009, with the aim to build my own little holiday cottage empire. The process is a whole other story, which I’ll share with you sometime but as anyone reading this knows, I did it.

Within days of arriving I noticed a pair of ducks over by our then completely run-down Granary Barn. I couldn’t get anywhere near them to feed them at first but eventually managed to get close enough to throw them some bread. This continued until they flew off for winter, wherever it is they go.

The next Spring they just appeared right in front of me whilst I was mowing the lawn, demanding food! Every year since then they simply turn up around Easter, eat me out of house and home, have babies and then scoot off around Autumn. They are a wonderful and welcome daily sight amongst our holiday cottages and our guests love them. They do visit the barns occasionally if I haven’t fed them enough.

This year saw a turning point, where mother duck (goes by the name of Sin. Dad is Hoi) started letting me feed her by hand and so she decided to bring her babies around to my barn door for food. They are now about 6 weeks old and I can feed them by hand too as you can see.

I’ve long since stopped feeding them bread as it isn’t great for them but they eat bowls and bowls of cold porridge every day and as you can see, they do like to get stuck in!

If I don’t feed them quickly enough they just come inside on my step, making a noise until I do! If the door is closed they simply rattle their bowl until I answer!

All these pics of the ducklings have been taken by my mate Philip Ayling when he was staying recently. I wish I’d taken a photo of him laying on the ground shooting them!