Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

Where's your momma gone,
Little baby bird?

Watched a family of ducks swimming along the Cowie Water in Stonehaven this morning. Daddy duck flew away downstream and, a short time later, mummy duck flew away to join him.

The six ducklings were quite happy nibbling away in the shelter of the undergrowth of the burn's edge for a few minutes, until two or three of them thought they would break cover and try to find mummy and daddy. Swimming around and cheeping like mad, their efforts were unsuccessful. Two, then three, scrambled onto a rock and cheeped away from there (main picture) in the hope that would yield a positive result, but eventually they dropped back into the water and swam back to their siblings.

A few more minutes passed before mummy duck flew back onto the scene, quacking loudly as she landed and then quacking even more loudly as she swam downstream looking for her infants. Finally they were reunited and I could continue my walk knowing all was well for now.

Walked along to Dunnottar Castle in the afternoon (see extra).