The Consolation of Ducks

Nighttime on Still Waters

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Did you know that ducks participate in ‘coordinated loafing’? But that might not be the only surprising/endearing thing about them. Tonight, we celebrate the joy ducks bring thanks to video posted by a stranger in Canada.

Journal entry:

20th September, Friday

“Hanging at the still-point between
Summer and winter’s
Swing and counter-swing.

Rooks roister joyously westwards,
Red with promise.
Above them, fourteen successive
Straggles of geese
Head eastwards
Flying on swift wingbeats
Against the grain of the day.”

Episode Information:

In this episode I refer to Mark Hogben’s video reel (11/09/24) on Instagram of him feeding the ducks.

I also briefly mention the following:

Miles Hadfield’s (1950) An English Almanac
Godfrey Baseley’s (1977) A Country Compendium
Stefan Buczacki’s (2002) Fauna Britanica
Jennifer Ackerman’s (2021) The Bird Way.

With special thanks to our lock-wheelers for supporting this podcast.

Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Donna Kelly
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.

Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site.

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For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.

Capitole

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Journal entry (00:00:45)

3. Welcome to NB Erica (00:01:16)

4. News from the moorings (00:02:18)

5. Cabin chat (00:08:19)

6. The consolation of ducks (00:12:31)

7. Jennfier Ackerman's reference to 'coordinated loafing' (00:26:39)

8. Signing off (00:30:45)

9. Weather Log (00:31:02)