What's up, duck?

12:02pm Sunday 11th May 2008

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TWO ducks have built a nest 20ft up in a willow tree.

Retired vet Mike Venables said he was somewhat surprised to find the mallards' new high-rise home.

"I'd seen them walking around the garden quite a lot but I never thought for a minute they would start nesting up a tree," he said.

"We do get foxes around here so maybe they've decided a fox isn't going to climb 20ft."

Mallards usually prefer to nurture their young in reeds or on open ground so Mr Venables was shocked to see a duck launch itself skywards.

"The female appeared to take off vertically and land near a scruffy looking collection of branches," he said.

"The nest doesn't look particularly sturdy but it's stayed put in the wind and the rain."

It is not known whether the hen duck has laid any eggs because Mr Venables cannot see from his bedroom window.

But it is likely that she hasn't because the drake is still around.

He will disappear as soon as the eggs are laid.

Yesterday Knutsford Ornithological Society said it was unusual for a duck to nest in a tree.

"You see it occasionally," said member Tony Usher. "And it is mainly mallards.

"The problem is that when ducks take off they quite often knock the eggs out of the nest."

Mr Venables, 67, said his garden, which is close to the Peover Eye stream in Plumley, had often attracted families of ducks in the past.

"I have counted seven ducklings on our pond in previous years," he said.

"The females usually get three or four males with them, such is their licentious lifestyle."

Some perching ducks - such as Mandarins - do nest in tree holes.

Their young, which cannot fly, fall to the ground using webbed feet and downy feathers as a parachute.

But Mr Venables was unsure how the mallards would cope.

"I imagine they'll probably put them in their beaks and carry them down," he said.

"Either that or they'll fall to the ground and hopefully survive."

But Mr Usher said he need not worry."I would imagine they'd be okay because they're light and fluffy," he said.

"Normally the nest would be on the ground near to water. As soon as they hatch out they are walked to the nearest pond or lake."

But if anything does go wrong, the ducklings will be in good hands.

"I'll do my best for them if something does happen," said Mr Venables, who used to be a partner at the Willows practice in Knutsford and still works two days a week at Manchester Dogs Home.

"But hopefully they'll fall into the river."