November – wildlife in the burn

I should have told you earlier that we cross a stream (I call it a burn) on the way in to our property. We share a lane for about 50 yards with our neighbour. The burn crosses under that lane. In September when we moved in, the burn was part of the lake created by the July floods.

We spotted a pair of ducks with 10 ducklings in the lake in mid September and sometimes saw them from up on our deck looking down on the lake about 100 yards below. The lake has mostly dried up now and the ducks seem to have moved on.

There are no foxes in New Zealand so the ducklings will likely have survived. Is it not amazing for 10 duck eggs to hatch out from one nest?

There are heron which appear sometimes on the banks of the burn.

There are also plenty of pukekos which come out in wet weather. The pukeko is a New Zealand swamp bird unlike any bird in the British Isles. Google ‘pukeko’ to learn more.

Lately we have heard frogs croaking by the burn. J heard them first one evening in early October but they can be heard at any time of day now.