Awwwwwsome !The Aww factor ! This spring has seen some truly weird weather, with heavy snow in March and April our resident Swans headed off to the nesting site on 23 rd february only to be driven back to the tidal estuary on the 3rd march due to ice and blizzards !
I fed them twice a day until the 17th march when they disappeared back to the nesting site.
During their absence a young pair of Swans tried to set up home on the river, and the Pen laid 2 eggs about 3 feet below the tide level. The next tide came in and promptly washed the nest away leaving the eggs under 3 feet of water.
Was sad to see the Pen and Cob unable to do anything about it.
Undettered, the Pen moved further up the river to a small island and tried again laying at least 4 eggs, she sat on them for over 2 weeks until tragedy in the form of vandalism by youths or perhaps attacked by someone or thing, she abandoned the nest.
During this time several broods of ducks had hatched, to the offspring of the domestic ducks that had interbred with the wild mallards last year. The results were just aww inspiring, in particular was a little bright yellow throwback that was just gorgeous. I have posted some pics of these, but sadly have to report that several ducklings have since been killed by predators, including the yellow one by a crow !It quite upset me, since i knew that another few days and it would have been big enough to have survived.
It is now the 29 th may, and feels like january, damn cold!
However it is not all bad news, since 3 days ago our resident Swans returned with 5 Cygnets ! Awwww....and i can tell you they are gorgeous!
I went down to the waterside and gave the parents a good feed of wholemeal bread. I think they were almost as glad to see me as i was them..they certainly hadn't forgotten me, and walked right up to my feet with the Cygnets..a priviledge indeed !
The last few days have for me been Awwwsome...enjoy !