7 : 3 : 1

It looks like we have eleven ducklings in the quad. The seven older juveniles from the first brood are still very much with us, and are getting pretty large now. The two more recent broods have been decimated, however. One appears to consist of only three ducklings, while the other is down to a single chick. That does mean that each duckling gets more attention/assistance from its mother, but with the first brood getting quite large, competition looks quite strong in the quad. It may be that feeding is more regular this year, but the strong truncation of the more recent broods while the first one stays at full strength suggests that competition is key (... says the armchair ecologist).