Feeding The Ducks

It was a lovely, hot day and the bears were asked if anyone would like to go for a walk. They all did, of course. Jane drove them up to a local beauty spot, Shakerley Mere.

They walked all round the lake, which was quite tiring, but they had lots of stops on the way, and they had been clever enough to remember to bring bottles of water with them, so they could have a drink whilst they were out in the hot sun.

The path went right round the lake, and through some woodland. There were loads of benches on the way round, and they sat down on every single one!

Each time they stopped they had the opportunity to look around and see all the different birds flying through the trees, and listen to them singing, and watch the ducks turn upside-down in the water looking for food - they did look funny with their legs pointing up in the air!

Crackers and James had remembered to bring their cameras with them so they took lots of pictures of everything. There were ducks and drakes and coots, and lots of other pretty ducks. When they got home they were going to look up all the different birds in their bird books so they could find out the names of every one.

Because they sat so still on one of the benches, they were rewarded with the sight of a heron - a quite shy, reclusive (that means it likes to be on its own a lot) bird that stands like a statue in the shallows waiting for a fish for its dinner.

The heron is an easily recognised, grey-backed bird, with long legs, a long, white neck, bright yellow bill and a black eye-stripe that continues as long, drooping feathers down the neck. Unusually, it stands on just one of its legs at a time! Scary said that was because it only got half as tired that way!

On the way round, Jane called them over to the edge of the water, reminding them to be very careful, and then produced a bag of birdseed so that they could feed the ducks.

The bears all took pawsful of the seed and threw it out on the water for all the birds. There was a lot of flapping of wings, and splashing of water, and quacking - very noisy!!

When they got back to the carpark, there was an ice-cream van parked next to them, and Jane very kindly treated them all to ice-cream cones with chocolate flakes and raspberry sauce. Yummy!!!!

Check if there are any wildfowl areas near you, and see if you can go and visit them. Remember to take a drink, some birdseed (not bread), your camera, and maybe some money in case there is an ice-cream van there too! Have fun!