Tara's ducklings

Here you can see some of Tara's 7 ducklings. The pale one is called Ming Ming according to our 3 year old neighbour Aimee. We are waiting to find out the names of the others. They are eating ferociously and lok bigger everyday. They love iceberg lettuce and chick crumb. Tara hisses and spits if you go to near but who can blame her? We will keep them safe in the run until they are large enough to go on the pond.

My son's wedding

At the weekend, our son James married the very lovely Ulrike Sauter. I claim responsibility for that as Ulrike came to Alpha on an internship 6 years ago. She met James who was working for us at the time and the rest is history. They are now on honeymoon in Rome and we are enjoying happy thoughts of the wedding, looking at photos and eating cake. Our co-director Brendan Foley is celebrating the birth of his new son Adam, also known as Peanut as he was the size of a peanut when Brendan and Heather first found out about him. Many congratulations to Brendan and Heather - the joys of parenthood cannot be overstated as we discovered once again when we watched our own son at his wedding.

Another happy piece of news is that Tara the muscovy duck has finally hatched her eggs and has some sweet black and yellow ducklings. Not sure how many yet as she hisses when you open the nest box but I've definitely seen two. Hope to get some photos soon.

Work has to take a back seat when important personal events take place (I mean weddings and child birth rather than duck hatchings, momentous as that was too) but it's great that we have a team here to keep everything running smoothly when we are away. That has been tested of late, particularly as we have also had issues with our servers. It's great to know that everything carries on regardless. Thanks team!