No rain today, NOT a phrase we have been able to say that much recently and so we let the alpacas out for the day. The ground is still sodden mind you but as we have said before, the alpacas' feet are fairly light compared to other stock plus they are animals that are better at not being too cooped up. We are sure the sheep would quite like to be out too but they are also pretty content being in and, crucially, as well as us saving the land from the ravages of their feet, there is also limited risk of scald when they are in the dry! Back with the mud though and here we have perfect examples of the differences between our ducks and geese. At corn time Tom and his two ladies turned up as usual for their trugg of corn, all three of them looking immaculate and pristine. And then came the ducks. All five looked as Apple and Banana here in the photos, bills covered in mountains of mud! There has been some serious dabbling today in places and we imagine that they have found lots to eat. It is fascinating to watch and also fascinating how they filter the mouthfuls of mud through their lamellae (tiny tooth-like filaments in their mouths.) Every now and then you will see one of the ducks rally shake their heads, we assume, to really get their filtering working as efficiently as possible.