Last Sunday, much to my delight, Mrs Mallard and her two ducklings came cruising along the River Ely where it flows in to Cardiff Bay while I was standing on the footpath above, enjoying a cooling breeze blowing gently over the water.

These may well be the same birds I saw during a similar walk on 16 July, though I’m a bit doubtful about that.

I think the ducklings would have grown more in the intervening 24 days, and Sunday’s mother duck looks to be quite a young duck herself. Perhaps that’s why she’s bred so late in the season.