A Birthday Surprise

It's officially summertime at Newhouse Farm, which means that it's also birthday time, first James' and then mine a couple of days later. Last year I celebrated my birthday with my friends in a local pub near my home in London. If someone had mentioned to me then that on my following birthday I'd be living in Cornwall surrounded by a group of singing Fijians I'd never have believed them. But this is precisely what happened...

James had spent 4 months living on an island in Fiji as a sustainability manager for an organisation called Tribewanted. It sounds like he had an amazing experience, and I've heard many tales of the Fijians' humour and hospitality during his stay. Now it was time for James to return the hospitality, as 5 of the Fijians were coming to England as part of an organised Tribewanted trip, and were due to visit Newhouse Farm on my birthday. For most of the Fijians this was going to be their first visit away from home, and I wondered just what they would make of their unfamiliar surroundings.

As evening approached at the farm the Fijians arrived, with cries of "Bula!" as they greeted James with enthusiastic hugs. Then it was my turn to be introduced to all of them, first Tevita, then Marau, Api, Leavi, and Tale (the youngest and James' closest friend from Fiji). To my surprise they seemed remarkably unphased by their unusual surroundings. Shortly after the group arrived everyone promptly sat down outside, guitars and ukeleles were produced, and the soft sound of Fijian singing began. I couldn't understand what the words were but the harmonies they sang sounded beautiful, and it was soon explained to me that most of the songs were about love that was too late.

After some time Tevita and the other Fijians disappeared inside, only to reappear moments later following James who was holding aloft a birthday cake. James lead the Fijians across the garden as they sang Happy Birthday, followed by a rendition of the Fijian version of the song: Happy Long Life. Then James presented me with my birthday cake: a chocolate fudge cake made from my grandmother's secret recipe and the very first cake he'd ever made!

Some time later James and I took the Fijians on a tour around the farm. We showed them the wind turbines and the solar panels, the pigs and the poultry, but they seemed particularly taken by the geese and the (now fully grown) goslings. Apparently they don't have any geese in Fiji, so my noisy goslings were quite a surprise for them. But the next surprise was on me as James and I walked through the duck and goose area. As I walked beside the pond I saw a bundle of yellow and brown fur at my feet. It took me a few moments to register what I was seeing, until I let out a whoop of glee as I realised what it was... one of the female Muscovy ducks with 7 newly hatched ducklings!

I couldn't believe the timing of the ducklings arrival... my birthday! The female Muscovy duck, Mindy, was very motherly and protective of her new ducklings, who were cheeping away and looking at their new surroundings, whilst staying huddled close to their mum. I thought the goslings were cute when they hatched earlier this year, but now I realised I'd never seen anything quite as adorable as a Muscovy duckling. 5 of them had a unique combination of yellow and brown markings, whilst the other two were yellow with blotches of grey. One of them looked especially funny as it had a brown marking enveloping the top of its head that looked like a superheroes' mask.

As I watched, the mother Muscovy led the ducklings into the pond for what I should imagine would have been their first swim. They took to the water without any fuss, and immediately started paddling around, pecking at anything which caught their interest. I was so impressed that Mindy had managed to successfully hatch 7 eggs - this was the same number of goose eggs that I'd successfully managed to incubate and hatch earlier in the year. I walked over to the Muscovy ducks house and peered inside. In the back corner I could see a feather lined nest, with egg shells scattered about the rim. Then over to the left of the nest I saw a sad sight, another yellow duckling that was still alive but obviously not for much longer. It's head was lolling on its back and it was clearly unable to stand up. It was such a pity, but I made the decision to leave it where it was and not interfere to try and save it. These Muscovy ducklings had been hatched naturally by their mother, and she had obviously made the decision that this duckling wasn't going to survive. Had I been incubating it I'd probably have tried to save it with Rescue Remedy, but nature knows best and can often be cruel, so I stepped away from the Muscovy house and returned to look at the ducklings.

The ducklings were paddling down the stream, never straying too far away from their mother, who every now and then would emit a sharp "Peep" to call a stray duckling back to her. After watching them for a while longer I let them be, and returned to the birthday celebrations, thinking that this was probably one of the best birthday presents I could ever have wished for! I'll keep you posted on the duckling's progress over the next few weeks.