An unexpected surprise!

Out from the vegetation at the side of the loch swam this little family of eight ducklings and mum .... dad, of course, was nowhere to be seen!

Mum kept her little ones close to the edge unlike the coots who were in open water and an easy target for the gulls. I wasn't the only person who stood and watched as the gulls started to attack. The parents tried their best to fend them off the gulls and protect their chicks but one wee chick was snatched :-((  The remaining chick and parents managed to reach the relative safety of the island but there is just no weed out there for them to eat. There might have been more than two chicks hatched  but there is certainly only one left. Sometimes nature is really tough!