her time spent nesting on steve suttard's balcony has been seen by millions thanks to an accompanyinge a few tweets, wrote the thread, went off and made a cup of tea and came back and the ticker was going. and i was like, 0k, and then it went crazy. and the loveliest thing about this is that there are people all over the world who know how great he is now and adore him too. operation mallard is to begin. what are the odds of this duck nesting on your balcony, what with you being a twitcher and everything? a million to one. i can't believe what has happened over the last 18 months now. it is unbelievable. for an ornithologist like me, a twitcher, it is the perfect scenario. as a former royal navy survival specialist, steve is adept at looking after people. but ducks are a different proposition. from when i wake up in the morning, i have to tiptoe around the apartment. i check if she's on the nest or not, and normally she is. she's full of character, and she looks at me sometimes as if to say, "i recognise that face, but i can't place it." six o'clock in the morning. all seven hatched.