On the warpath

The swans spent a fair amount of time showing that they ruled Blackford Pond while I was there today, the male swan more than the female (as you would predict, of course).

The cygnets seemed to have almost doubled in size since Saturday - they've got the hang of feeding on weed, that's for sure, as my extra photo shows. Why do swans (and cygnets) spend so much time with one leg on their back? It's clearly something that they learn early on.

No one seemed to be actually nesting - the coot was on the island again, but not on the swans' nest. I couldn't see any moorhens in the tree where it looked as if they had a nest on Saturday, but I saw one on on the coots' original nest, on the island. Still musical nests, it's time they got serious!