Some of the smallest drakes can be found as close to home as our own gardens and window boxes, and the best time to see them is after a rainfall. These little shell-maker drakes are the best friends for a gardener, as they eat all sorts of irritating pests and insects, leaving gardens luscious and green.

There is perhaps only one downside to having a group of these little drakes so close to one’s house and that is that they can be noisy little chatterboxes, calling to each other across the vegetable beds in high whistles and toots. They seem especially talkative around sunrise, where they can be heard merrily chewing on their breakfast and presumably wishing each other a good morning. They must also be discouraged away from strawberry patches or they will eat the full crop in tiny, gummy bites – use citrus peel, for the smell is too strong for them to tolerate for long.