As I approached Battery Point in the twilight before dawn I saw the outline of a fox skulking away. He was on the brow of the hill with an alarmed blackbird announcing his presence from a nearby bench.
The fox paused then disappeared into the tangle of the wind swept hedgerow on the cliff edge.
I continued down to the lighthouse where I spotted a hen mallard on the rocks below. She sat motionless among the seaweed clad rocks. I thought she was alone until two ducklings scrambled out from beneath her.
I wonder, had she escaped the attention of the fox or had she begun this morning with a larger brood? Who knows but for now she and her two offspring were safe.
Ducklings naturally take cover under their mum’s protective wings. She can safeguard several chicks that way, it must be cosy under there!
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