A story of Mallards, a Kingfisher and a Deer in a hurry
Yesterday, I visited a friends lake, where I often have my hide set up to photograph Kingfishers. Whilst the kingfisher did put in a very brief appearance, the highlight of the day, were two pairs of Mallards who spent a couple of hours, fighting over who's territory the lake belonged to! It's wonderful, when I get the opportunity to totally immerse myself in a nature story that unfolds directly in front of me, and watching this stuggle for supremacy left me with very mixed feelings for the two protagonists! I had been settled in the hide for around an hour, when the first pair of Mallards arrived and settled down to enjoy themselves. OK, so it was just a pair of ducks, but unlike the UK, where just about every inland body of water is covered in wildfowl, here in remote rural France, it is a very different story. With over 1000 lakes in our area, the local wildlife is spoiled for choice and therefore spread themselves very thinly (in fact, it is very rare to find any kind of