Cuteness, and fecundity, on the Plain!

A friend from the Hoskinstown Plain sent me a message today about an outbreak of breeding records on the Hoskinstown Plain, so after a few chores I took myself off for a look.

The cuteness started before I got to the Plain.  To my eye the grass is definitely greener inside the fence.  Perhaps Thelwell Specials judge grass by length rather than colour?
We have watched this little chap for some time as we go by on our morning dog walks.  If you don't think this cute I suggest you need professional help!
Baby Australian Wood ducks arealso cute snuggled in the grass beside Plains Rd
One of the main attractors was a brood of 4 Masked Lapwing chicks.  They were all there, but I only managed to get 3 in this shot (see red dots).
Black-winged Stilts are not frequent in the area.  The flock in the marsh was 14 birds in total but difficult to get in an image - and I was about 150m away so as not to disturb them.
Alas: this is not cute.  A former bird of some species.
The main business was a brood of 14 Australian Shelduck ducklings.  Mum is top left and was honking to let the kids know where to go to get away from the nasty photographer.  Only 11.2 fitted in this image.
 On the way back home I snapped some bovine cuteness.
 Sorry Angus, you aren't cute.
I will confess that I reckon Angus are nearly as pleasant animals as Herefords.  (Guernseys are the least cute Bovines with Friesians a close second from the bottom.)

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