Saturday, May 24, 2008

Swan Wars?


After our walk on Thursday Morning we drove up to see the Swans. The family down at hatchetts Pond are doing well, but something seemed amiss at Hatchetts Moor. This is the Cob and he seemed to have abandoned his family. Their nesting site was at the far end of Hatchetts Pond out of site of the other family, but on Thursday the Pen and the cygnets were on the nest and dad was down in the little lily pond. We watched for about 30 mins and he just stayed put. In the afternoon i slipped back and he was still sitting on his own. Swans are usually very protective of their young and i was a little concerned. I phoned one of the Forest keepers and he said he would drop by and have a look. The problem is that Male swans will fight and he thought that the other male may have warned this one off, as they have had trouble in the past when more than one pair have chosen to nest on the same pond.
When I returned on Friday the family was reunited but they are now all down by the lily pond. This is a very small pond and I wonder how they will fare here.

2 comments:

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

I'm glad the family was reunited. I've watched swans chase off other birds during nesting season. They can be very aggressive!

Kathryn and Ari said...

Domestic strife, maybe? We'll keep our fingers crossed that the new homestead brings more domestic tranquility (and protection for the little ones!).