Predatory Ducks
 (and a big thank you)

Before I get started on ducks I'll say a big thank you for all the appreciation, the comments, stars and hearts I got for my 2500 pictures milestone! While I like the "diary" function of Blipfoto, allowing me to look back and see what I was doing in the past, it isn't that which keeps me blipping. It is all you other blippers, especially those I follow, and those who follow me. You give me an interested audience to write to. You are also very interesting and inspiring yourselves, through your own pictures and writing from different parts of the world. Some of you I have met face to face, some of you I only know through your text and pictures, and a few of you are actually family. I love you all!  Thank you for sharing some of your lives!
On to those ducks....

On our visitor's last full day we went to Gussjön, near the village of Starred, where there is a lovely grassy and sandy swimming place, complete with a jetty to jump off and a raft to swim to.
There were quite a few families there but enough space to spread out. The water was warm and we enjoyed our swim. 
Towards the end of our swim a small group of mallard ducks arrived. They seemed totally unafraid and patrolled the whole area.
When we returned they came over to check us out. One was getting ready to give Jan's toe a nibble but she gave it a serious look and it wandered off again. Our neighbours had gone off to cook at a nearby table and the ducks explored their base thoroughly, checking to see if blue plastic bags or blankets are edible - fortunately deciding they weren't.
Grace was a bit freaked out by their persistence and retreated away for a while.
As I watched them I thought they were all female, which I found puzzling, but apparently young males have the same colouring as females so they were probably a female mallard and young.
According to Wikipedia almost all domestic ducks are descended from mallards and judging by the sociability of these ones I can really understand that.
This is a backblip, 6 days late, but I am slowly getting my blip-life back together.