I jumped off and ran down the tow path calling her name. It was quite a busy spot here, there were several moored boats and people walking their dogs so I must have provided some amusement. As soon as Donna heard my voice she turned towards me swam directly at me. I knelt down and picked her out of the water and talking reassuringly to her, reinstalled her in her floating home. She seemed no worse off for her escapade, it took her lots of flapping and preening before she settled down but when she did she just tucked her beak under her wing and took a nap. It was very reassuring to me to realise that even in such circumstances she will come to me. At least after years of worrying about children falling in and if they could swim, I did not have to bother about whether a duck can swim or not.
After that of course I had to accept that she was banned from the stern of the boat and I had to do something about containing her in the cockpit when the front doors were open. I managed to rig up a barrier which kept her in, but over which she could watch what we were ding. She soon accepted this arrangement .
This first day had not finished with her yet, worse was to come. We tied up for the evening at a village called Alrewas. We had had our evening meal, tidied up and were now relaxing after the days' exertions. Everyone says how relaxing boating is, what they really mean is after all the hard work, all you feel up to is relaxing. Anyway Mel and Mike were sitting on the stern with a can of beer each and I was walking to tow path with Bess and Meg the Border Collies and Donna. It was a warm calm evening and I was taking photographs of some of the wild flowers growing along the water's edge. The dogs were having a sniffing time and Donna was poking her beak into the grasses and reeds but showing no interest in going for a swim, perhaps this mornings events were fresh in her mind. Alrewas is a pretty little village with several thatched cottages with lawns sloping down to the water.Some seemed to be the home of Mallard ducks and they were either lazing on the grass or cavorting in the water. A Mallard drake with his two ducks in tow, began to take an interest in Donna. He was swimming quite close to us and was quacking loudly, She did not seem to be at all interested, after all being reared with people and dogs, perhaps she has forgotten she is a duck. Suddenly he made his move. So quickly that I hardly saw what happened he had come between Donna and myself and had driven her, amongst a lot of flapping and squawking, right across the canal where they both disappeared into the reeds. I was appalled , dumbfounded, I am sure my jaw dropped open. I was sure this time she was gone for good. I could hardly fight a drake for possession of a duck. All I could do was stand there and call her name in ever more panic sounding tones. Then, Donna, demonstrated her affection for me , there was a lot of flapping and quacking again and she emerged and with her best under water swimming she escaped the drake's clutches and came directly to me. I plucked her up, and other than a few ruffled feathers she seemed quite unharmed and happy. I quickly reinstalled her on the boat and I never put her out on the water when other ducks we nearby. I had learnt my lesson. She never told me what happened in those reeds but the incident made me feel pretty sure that she is a Lady with a capital L
Over the next few days we established a kind of routine. After breakfast I would place Donna on the tow path and she would waddle after the dogs for her morning walk. Sometimes I would pop her onto the water, or she could hop down herself. She would swim around, then have a treading water time while she flapped her wings then she would swim under water. This was usually in a big circle starting and ending near me, it seemed to take a big effort to get under water, she is a big bird and her feathers must contain lots of trapped air. Once under though, she looked very streamlined and she moved very rapidly and gracefully. If the bank sloped to the canal she would hop out herself. If it was too high she would come to me to be lifted out. She would then stand and preen until she had regained her sleek appearance. I would then pop her back into her cockpit where she would stay until our lunchtime stop, when it would all be repeated. It did depend on where we stopped but we usually found somewhere suitable to moor and let her out. In the evenings I usually let her out on the bank while I cooked dinner, and she would not stray far from my window. I decided not to worry about people walking their dogs, if she was scared she had the water to escape to. On this holiday we were lucky and had no unfortunate meetings with troublesome dogs.We soon found however, a great deal of interest was generated by her by passers by. She became a very highly photographed duck. People seemed fascinated by the idea of a duck on a boat, but then , so was I. It did make for a very much more sociable holiday, as we got into so many people when they would make an enquiry about her. Is it a pet? is it a goose?can I stroke it?, doesn't it fly away,? don't the dogs chase it, and of course the old chestnut, is it your xmas dinner?. These were some of the opening gambits and we would often stand chatting to people we previously would never have spoken to. Donna seemed to enjoy being the centre of attention and I am sure she learned to pose when the photos were taken. She would not let anyone else touch her, if they reached out to stroke, she would always move out of range. I was pleased to see this as I was always mindful that unscrupulous person might see her only as roasted on a plate surrounded with green peas. After her evening perambulation I would pop her into her locker and leave her while the crew went for liquid refreshment. She was rather on show, but we were lucky, no harm came to her this holiday, and before our next one we had extensive alterations made to the boat, including a covering for the cockpit area. This was an addition which added a few hundred pounds to the cost, yet another expense for a £1.50 duck.