Swan

This afternoon's walk became more like a roaming in the gloaming before I had completed it, thanks to the shortening days, and you can see the street lighting reflecting in the water because this was taken beside The Wharf in Calne, which runs alongside the main road as it runs through Calne's town centre.

The Wharf marks the terminus of the now-defunct Wilts and Berks Canal (Calne Branch) and doubles as a section of the River Marden, so qualifies as an entry in my River series. However, the reason for choosing this swan is because I now view him in a new light as I have learned his story. This is the same swan, incidentally, that I have blipped before, that made a special journey across the grass to hiss at me last Friday.

Apparently he is one of three siblings born a year or so ago who unfortunately witnessed his two brothers perish on their fledgling flight. They were unable to take flight as there was insufficient length in The Wharf for them to become airborne and they crashed into the main road and were run over.

He now has only the other ducks for company and no prospect of taking off or of finding a mate. The lady who was feeding him and the ducks as I was taking these pictures said that she had approached the RSPCA with a view to their re-homing him, maybe at Chippenham where there is a whole community of swans, but as it was a wild animal they would not intervene unless it was injured.