Remember little Buddy from July’s blog?
He’s grown a whole lot more!
Him and his four Call Duck friends have moved to an outdoor pen in the live-in rangers garden.
We’re still not sure if Buddy is a girl or a boy until he gets his adult feathers.
As he’s a Mallard if Buddy is a boy he’ll get a nice shiny green head of feathers, and if he’s a girl he’ll get the streaky brown feathers that keep the ducks hidden while sitting on their nests of eggs!
The Mallard’s scientific name is Anas platyrhynchos meaning a duck with a board bill. Anas is Latin for duck, Platus meaning broad and Rhunkhos meaning bill are from Greek.
Did you know Kelburn gets its name from the river – the Kel Burn?
Burn is a Scots word for a small river, the Kel Burn flows down from the moors where it starts as the Clea Burn.
The Waterfall is the last steep drop on the waters journey to the sea.
The gorge around the waterfall is worth a visit, being only a few minutes from the visitor centre.
The summer rains and occasional summer sun we’ve had have meant the trees have grown well.
Some of them have needed maintained as they have been overgrowing paths, trails, and roads, especially the Lime trees!
Luckily our disposal method for most of the branches we cut down is very sustainable and eco-efficient. The methods names are Bert and Ernie, our two goats who gorge themselves on offcut branches in the Summer.
The live-in rangers have had a new house guest this month!
This little Pipistrelle Bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) was found lying on the floor inside the museum by a visitor, and the ranger team attended and scooped him up – wearing gloves of course!
It was the middle of the day when he was found so the team kept him indoors until it was dusk and then released him back outside the museum.
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