Ducklings

[nanila]

[Two ducklings, one facing the camera and one showing us its fluffy backside.]

Someone left the top gate on our canal lock open today and these two plus their four siblings got stuck at the far end of the lock next to the closed gate. They couldn't scramble out to meet their momma standing on the lock edge. I went out to chivvy her back toward the open gate, and luckily the ducklings trapped in the lock followed her all the way out the gate, which I shut behind them. All seem to be okay if a little peeved with me, and I can take it!

Parkour!

[rydra_wong]

Sadly, I didn't have a phone on hand to try to get a photo.

But I just found out that a startled fox on a London balcony will, if feeling cornered, drop two storeys onto the top of a garden wall, bounce off that onto the ground, land with somewhat less dignity than it had intended but apparently without injury, and trot off hurriedly.

In my defense, I really didn't mean to make the fox feel cornered; it's just that my immediate, automatic response to "unexpected furry cat-sized creature" is "stay still, make crooning noises at it, try to edge a bit closer." Had I fled, it would have been able to go round to the other side of the balcony, where you only have to drop down half a storey to an adjacent roof.

ETA: I can't help noticing that there is a very well-chewed yellow foam ball on my balcony, which I did not put there.

Also, by way of apology, I have left a dish of water out on the balcony, because it is a heatwave.