By courtesy of my daughter, I was able to spend a short time time at Lake Dulverton on Friday morning, while she attended to some work at Ross. Having known Dulverton in its' heyday, I always go there with some sadness. While there is plenty of water in the dammed section by the road (see pic), the main area remains substantially dry. Although its' a wildfowl refuge, it's quite obvious that dogs are regularly taken out onto the 'dry' area (and vehicles), and the fact that it appears necessary to put up a notice to 'keep dogs out of the water' at the dammed section, 
begs the question of why dog owners wouldthink that such actions by them are appropriate.
Despite all the above, there was still a large number of ducks on the main lake, protected by the boggy areas surrounding the small area of water. Present were c.250 Chestnut Teal, c20 Grey Teal (first I've seen for sometime), c30 Mountain Duck, 40+Black Swan, 5 Double-banded Plover, c.40 Red-capped Plover and on the dammed section, 5 White-eyed Duck hidden in the depths of the vegetation, one of which I managed to photograph (distantly--but shows the distinctive white underwing) and an assortment of Black/Mallard Duck, and even a few 'real' Black Ducks! The increasing numbers of hybrids is very disappointing to see. I'm not really sure whether I had a good morning!!
...because dog owners do not own animals, but persons in the form of meat puppets, through which they can vicariously enjoy many things in public they would not normally be allowed to do.
ReplyDeleteTo wit, salivate, stick their noses in your crotch, mate, defecate, urinate, fight and run around like maniacs in the wrong places scaring the locals.