The Cruelty Of Nature

The little Cygnet that I've been following throughout the summer is sadly no more.
Something happened between Saturday night and Sunday morning and the poor little fellow has not been seen since.
It's almost certain that a predator such as a Fox or Mink has made off with the youngster, perhaps catching the parents off guard because of a twist of fate...
On Friday another Mute Swan arrived and our very aggressive and territorial Cob spent all day chasing the newcomer off and then the next two days defending an area away from the Pen and Cygnet...Leaving the youngster vulnerable to attack.

It's a real shame because I had high hopes of our little Cygnet making it to adulthood and he really was getting on so well...Nature can be very cruel sometimes.

Still Cute!

He's now 2 months old and still exploring his world...
Although he still doesn't like to stray too far away from Mum & Dad...

May I present to you our little Cygnet...

Still looking very cute when I popped in to see him yesterday.

Boy, Haven't You Grown!

I paid my first visit for a couple of weeks to see how our little Mute Swan Cygnet was getting along and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much he'd grown in the short time since I last saw him.

Still looking very cute, the most noticeable feature is his neck, which has taken an altogether longer profile.

He's still spending most of the time closely following his parents around, but once in a while he'll venture off a few yards to explore his surroundings...

The Little One...

He is a really cutie, but these will be the last shots that I post of our little Cygnet for the time being...
I will however keep you updated of any news and I will post more photos over the coming months as he develops.

I'm now feeling confident that this little Mute Swan has what it takes to survive and hopefully his parents can protect him from any predators.

I'm planning on putting a gallery on my main website in the coming days dedicated to documenting the life of this Cygnet, so please keep an eye out at www.ajdixonphotography.co.uk

Against All Odds

I was preparing myself for the worse this morning after deciding to visit the Mute Swans that last Sunday were the proud parents of 4 Cygnets...

Tragic events unfolded in the next few days and if you haven't been following the story, we were left with just one Cygnet on my last visit on Tuesday and I wasn't very hopeful of seeing him again.

This is nature though and nature as a habit of providing some wonderful surprises and I'm delighted to tell you that when I arrived on this gloriously sunny morning, I was greeted by 2 dotting parents and 1 very healthy looking youngster...

Now 10 days old, the little fella is still inseparable from his mother and looking eager to learn...

Everybody knows that the best way to learn is watch and copy mother...

And when you're this cute, it must be hard to resist the temptation of sneaking a peep at yourself...

And Then There Was One...

As promised I payed another visit to see how the new Mute Swan family was getting along this evening and I'm afraid it's not good news...
The clutch of four seemingly healthy Cygnets is now down to just one.

I'm yet to discover what has occurred since my last visit on Sunday, but I suspect that they may have been taken by Mink or even a Grey Heron that has been lurking fairly close to the nest.
My gut feeling is Mink though, because I think the chances of a Heron successfully getting away with three youngsters is pretty remote.

I had a look around the area of the nest site and a few yards away there were what appeared to be signs of a struggle with adult Swan feathers close to some more downy feathers which I believe must have been that of one of the Cygnets.
I just hope that the two adults can keep the one remaining youngster safe from harm.

I'll leave you with some shots from this evening of the birds and lets hope that these won't be the last ones...

Not So Ugly Ducklings!

Great news this weekend from one of my local sites with the first new Mute Swan arrivals for 3 years.
I first noticed the Pen Swan on eggs about a month ago and I've been waiting eagerly for the hatching ever since.
There was a clutch of 5 eggs and 4 of these hatched successfully on Friday evening.

Worryingly the newborns have already captured the attention of a Mink that has been 'seen off' by the adult birds on at least two occasions.

I kept a good distance away from the nest this morning and after a 2 hour wait, the new family took to the water for a very brief swim...


The Cygnets never strayed further than a few feet from their mothers side and even the proud Cob Swan didn't get much of a look in!

I'll be visiting the site again in a day or two to hopefully get some close ups of the Cygnets, so watch this space!