Graham R Watson
Parting is such sweet sorrow. 21/02/2021
Conan and Valeria’s three offspring, this was the last time I saw all three together it was like they had said there fair wells, and were about to make their way into the big wide world and the unknown, the following day two of the cygnets had gone, and it was a day after that, that the third had finally left the lake.
Conan and Valeria wasted no time, and it was less than two weeks and Valeria was building a nest on one of the islands. As the weeks passed everyone was getting excited about the prospect of the new arrivals.
When the time came, all of us had a bit of a shock! Can that be right!! Nobody could quite believe it!, 1,2,3 ,4,….8,9…,10,11 yes, eleven fluffy Cygnets. She managed to keep all of them for about a week, but unfortunately the number went down to nine.
About ten days later both Conan, Valeria and the cygnets all disappeared, nobody knows for sure where they went. It was my view that they went onto the adjacent River Colne and went down stream to a group of larger and safer lakes, fewer people, predators and a better area for a food source for the youngsters.
It seemed very strange not having swans on the lake, then suddenly after a couple of months an adult swan with three large cygnets appeared then another pair of adults with more cygnets arrived again nobody knows exactly where they had come from. During the autumn and into winter the numbers kept rising 16,20,24…. 30, 32 and then finally peaked with 38 swans, these were a mixture of adult, adolescent and last years cygnets, this number would fluctuate daily.
The whole of the winter was not a good time, the dreaded avian flue arrived at the lake and unfortunately a total of eight swans perished over a number of weeks, together with other water foul like Mallards, Coots and Tufted Ducks. You could tell that a number of other swans were ill but they managed to pull through they were lucky as the final tally could have been so much worse. The local authority had cordoned off parts of the lake and put up signage requesting the public not to feed the birds, well there must be one hell of a lot of illiterate people that visited the lake each day, all of them clutching bags of bread. Swans being swans, this caused them all to swarm and mill around together and undoubtedly help spread the virus. The good news now is that the virus has gone.
The total number of swans has decreased by two-thirds, a new pair of swans are nesting, and she is sitting on eggs and in a very handy position to view them.
A new chapter in the ever changing life on Little Britain Lake has started.
Parting is such sweet sorrow. 21/02/2021
Conan and Valeria’s three offspring, this was the last time I saw all three together it was like they had said there fair wells, and were about to make their way into the big wide world and the unknown, the following day two of the cygnets had gone, and it was a day after that, that the third had finally left the lake.
Conan and Valeria wasted no time, and it was less than two weeks and Valeria was building a nest on one of the islands. As the weeks passed everyone was getting excited about the prospect of the new arrivals.
When the time came, all of us had a bit of a shock! Can that be right!! Nobody could quite believe it!, 1,2,3 ,4,….8,9…,10,11 yes, eleven fluffy Cygnets. She managed to keep all of them for about a week, but unfortunately the number went down to nine.
About ten days later both Conan, Valeria and the cygnets all disappeared, nobody knows for sure where they went. It was my view that they went onto the adjacent River Colne and went down stream to a group of larger and safer lakes, fewer people, predators and a better area for a food source for the youngsters.
It seemed very strange not having swans on the lake, then suddenly after a couple of months an adult swan with three large cygnets appeared then another pair of adults with more cygnets arrived again nobody knows exactly where they had come from. During the autumn and into winter the numbers kept rising 16,20,24…. 30, 32 and then finally peaked with 38 swans, these were a mixture of adult, adolescent and last years cygnets, this number would fluctuate daily.
The whole of the winter was not a good time, the dreaded avian flue arrived at the lake and unfortunately a total of eight swans perished over a number of weeks, together with other water foul like Mallards, Coots and Tufted Ducks. You could tell that a number of other swans were ill but they managed to pull through they were lucky as the final tally could have been so much worse. The local authority had cordoned off parts of the lake and put up signage requesting the public not to feed the birds, well there must be one hell of a lot of illiterate people that visited the lake each day, all of them clutching bags of bread. Swans being swans, this caused them all to swarm and mill around together and undoubtedly help spread the virus. The good news now is that the virus has gone.
The total number of swans has decreased by two-thirds, a new pair of swans are nesting, and she is sitting on eggs and in a very handy position to view them.
A new chapter in the ever changing life on Little Britain Lake has started.