We've quite a few Mallards at work & I noticed before I had my hernia op that the males were gathering in groups. It could be while the females are looking for a nest site or making a nest & starting to lay.
Hopefully I'll be back in a couple of weeks if the Dr signs me off the sick next week. I don't know if I'll be round the lake to see what they are doing as it's along side the visitors centre & there are most bins there & heaviest work, bar winter & chipping branches from trees that have been felled. I generally only cover that area on my weekend on, one in three & two week days days every three weeks when the person whose responsibility it is has their mid week day off.
I cover 39% of the lodges & other areas, so walk 6 - 10 miles a day.
I've a FB friend who made a pond & put in an island for Mallards to nest on, they did but a fox raided it. He stocked the pond with Stickleback & now gets a wintering Kingfisher in his garden.