2025, the finale, almost

Monday afternoon and our intrepid Duck wranglers arrived for the 2025 hide and seek championships.

The players consisted of returning champs Sarah and Cal, along with recent conscript David from young farmers along with Daphne, Dot and the full supporting cast.

David immediately proved himself to be a real asset to the team as the ducks scattered in all directions and he was off like a whippet chasing a pork chop. Within 10 seconds he emerged from the holly bush triumphantly proclaiming that he had caught one.

Caught one, CAUGHT ONE!!! He had only gone and caught Daphne. Never in the history of LHS ducks have we even come close to catching Daphne. She has always headed straight to the hall roof to shout instructions to her babies and mock our attempts at catching them.

Another 3 minutes saw 2 more caught to join mum in the crate. Apparently, it is easier than catching sheep. Calm down David, nobody likes a show off. Sarah and Cal quickly increased the head count and in no time we had 8.

10 minutes pass and there is no movement, no sound, the remaining 5 have clearly put in some serious training and mastered stealth mode. At that moment we realise that the door to the boatyard has somehow opened, could the missing ducks be in there.

We search end to end but find nothing. Just as we are about to head back out the slightest of sounds is heard from the furthest corner and there, we find 3 huddled behind a pallet pretending we are unable to see them. We have now got 11 ( we think but are not entirely sure ) and are all stood in the boatyard in complete silence trying to listen for anything that might give us a clue. David and Cal are convinced they have heard the faintest of squeaks and disappear into the alcoves rummaging through cobwebs. Suddenly, Cal emerges victorious, duck in hand and spends the next 5 minutes picking bits of cobweb and dust off her face and beak.

Back at the crate as we surround it, we cannot remember if we now have 12 or 13 and it is proving impossible to count them through the gaps. We decide the best plan is to release those we have and do a head count as we release them. Back at the pond the count is in and, sadly, we only have 12. We are still not sure if she is in the quad or the boatyard but will regroup as soon as we have a location for her.

You can see a video of them being released on to their pond on this youtube link.

Update

Our little rogue was spotted in the quad first thing the next morning. Great news indeed as there are too many places to hide in the boatyard.

Calls were made and at 3:30pm Sarah arrived with Paul for hide and seek part 2. To give ourselves an unfair advantage we enlisted the help of Chris the gardener as he was walking past.

Chris very much turned out to be the hide and seek champion as he tracked her across the quad, straddled the pond and launched himself across it to spring a surprise grab bringing the 2025 championships to a close.

10 minutes later, having calmed down, it was into a small travel box for the short journey to her new home and the family reunion.

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