At River Cottage we encourage the waterfowl to pair up and breed as naturally as possible and we provide different nest boxes to suit the needs of the birds. Some are free standing, some are raised off the ground with an access ladder, and others are like kennels to suit the larger Geese and Swans. Quite a lot of pairs prefer to be independent and make their own nesting arrangements in the reeds and grasses sometimes very difficult to spot.

We monitor the progress of the laying birds to make sure the nests are not predated by crows and magpies and as sometimes happens, the "newly weds" take a while to get the hang of it and create  "egg dumps" where lots of different birds lay in the same nest . When this happens or when the nest is at severe risk, we take the eggs and incubate them and rear the babies ourselves.

We sometimes remove the duck and her babies as soon as they are hatched and put them in an enclosure to keep them safe until they are big enough to put back on the ponds, this is especially important with the Teals as the babies are so small and extremely vunerable. The Geese and Swans are normally perfectly capable of looking after their own offspring and because they are "grazers" they are better off left alone.

Spring is a very entertaining time here, with all the waterfowl in their best breeding plumage, displaying and showing off to each other, and looking for suitable places to nest whilst making sure that nobody else "muscles in" on their territory.