In August, the rooves of both Pickle’s Folly and Dick’s Folly were painted and the front well of Pickle’s Folly was refurbished. The new workshop was ordered, with plans for the freshly renovated space to be in use by November.
“I think it is going to make the whole site look more modern,” volunteer, Chris, said.
The former workshop was built in the late 1980s and housed an array of items of varying degrees of utility – some of the accumulated possessions not been used in three decades.
As autumn approaches, the volunteer team cleared leaves from the base and boat decks.
Bird of the month revisited: the Mallard duck
Volunteer, Roger, provided an update on May’s Bird of the Month, the Mallard duck.
“It was great to see so many surviving this year compared to nearly zero last year,” he said.
Roger explained that last year he witnessed the loss of two broods of ducklings.
“I watched a heron fly over a group of eight chicks and pluck them from the water one by one. Another group of chicks preyed on by below from what I can only guess was a pike,” Roger observed.
The mallard captured in this series of photographs managed to raise six out of a brood of eight ducklings to maturity. Roger added that he was aware of at least another four broods that were similarly resilient.
“I’m not sure what the reason for this success is. I have not seen as many herons and there have been more fishermen catching pike, but this is conjecture on my part,” he said.
