Michelle Styles:

The yellow duckling is fine and well. It is going into pin -- i.e. its feathers are starting to come in. It appears no worse for the ordeal.

The tiny reed pool has been filled as ducklings tend to be dumb about such things. I do think mother ducks can be very harassed with the silly things that ducklings get up to.

The bird flu is far to the south of us. Very worrying for those involved and I see once again, they are attempting to blame wild birds. The strain involved was last detected on the German/Czech border in the summer, very probably early August. The incubation period for the disease is 3-6 days. Birds who are infected tend not to migrate. The time scale is awfully long for the disease to be within the wild bird population and to be unnoticed. Also one would need to look at patterns of migration and investigate if birds from the area routinely turn up in Norfolk/Suffolk. The wildlife reserve next to the farm had not noticed any problem prior to this outbreak. Bird wardens do tend to be vigilant.
In short it is far too facile to blame wild birds and they need to investigate all the options. It sounds far more like infected meat/poultry feed. In other words, somewhere, corners were cut. The last outbreak in February was probably caused by imported turkey meat.
Anyway, hopefully the outbreak can be contained relatively quickly. And I would point out that the H5N1 despite the dire predictions of several years ago has yet to mutate and there is no evidence of human to human passing of the virus.

The revisions continue and I feel better about them. The book will be good.

Yesterday, when helping my dh with the bonfire, it was basically still. My dh froze and cocked his head. A large smile appear on his face. Then I heard it as well -- wing beats flapping far above us. Two swans soared over our head -- large and majestic with wing beats so loud that you would almost think they were calling out.
My dh and youngest later went birdwatching up at Grindon Lough and saw seven Whooper swans. It has been a long time since my husband has seen Whoopers there. He had thought the swans he had seen earlier were whoopers but hadn't wanted to say. We mainly get Bewicks. Grindon was positively teaming with winter migrants -- grey lags, field fares, huge flocks of golden plover and lapwings as well. They were so excited that they came back for the telescope.
Generally Whoopers mean a cold winter. But it was the sound of their wings in the air that will stay with me.
At the moment much to my dh's delight, my youngest is very gone on birdwatching. Other people might find collections of stuffed birds boring or uninspiring, but my dh and youngest spend ages looking at them, discussing them. My youngest has started submitting bird reports to the local bird club and I believe is taking part in the Bird Atlas by submitting roving reports.
As I was finishing my work on my wip for the day, I suddenly heard a loud screeching call. My dh came in from the garden to report that a tawny owl had flown directly over his head and he could see the markings. We apparently have two in the dene and they were calling to each other. Tawny owls have an almost unearthly cry. They fly on silent wings.
My wip is coming on. My editors definitely have good eyes...

The duckings are doing well. And one or two people have been approached with the possibilty of providing good homes. My heart sank this morning when I discovered the orginal mother duck sitting on a nest of eggs. If she follows previous form, she will hatch them all. My dh has also reverted to type -- oh let her, he says, she is not hurting any one. Uh, no I don't think so. She can sit there until the end of the bank holiday but the eggs will be removed.

Ducklings are very cute, but I have no wish to have the garden over run by ducks. The noise when one gets lost or takes upset at another...

The ducklings this morning could not find their way out of the enclosure. My youngest was herding them. Their mother came back in, quacked in an annoyed voice and head back out. the ducklings exchanged quick glances and trooped after her. The communication between ducks never ceases to amaze me.

We also have young song thrushes, starlings and a host of other broods in the garden.

ON the writing front, it all goes slowly. I had a RNA Northumberland meeting yesterday. It wastruly lovley to see the number of writers there. Then my paperback author copies for The Roman's Virgin Mistress (Uk version) arrived. I spent time getting reviews organized and books sent out.

Georgina Devon and I agree about the cover for Noble Beauty. It is truly beautiful. I have put a somewhat blurry picture of it up on my wall. It is the sort of picture that I love buying cards of.