Wootton Bassett (Sunday 11th August 2019)

On Sunday afternoon I popped over to Templars Firs to see the cygnets on the Wilts and Berks canal. It was quite busy as the Mary Archard had been running trips up and down the canal all day and I had the pleasure of being accompanied on the other side of the canal by a family with two especially noisy children, who scared away any water voles that might otherwise have put in an appearance.
I was very pleased to see that the pen swan who teamed up with a new partner last year has successfully produced a family of cygnets, though I learned from a volunteer that there used to be six.
Apparently a passenger on the Mary Archard a few days ago thought there was something wrong with one of them. The RSPB found nothing but luckily a local swan rescue team were called in and found a lump in its neck and two bolts embedded in its neck - the result of being attacked with a catapult. I was sickened to hear this, but the good news is that the cygnet (named Archie) has recovered and is soon to be released to a new location. My blip shows all five remaining cygnets, including one showing off in the Extra.

L.
12.8.2019 (1900 hr)

Blip #3008 (#2758 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #006
Blips/Extras In 2019 #185/265 + #070/100 Extras
Day #3425 (765 gaps from 26.3.2010)
LOTD #2152 (#1993 + 159 in archived blips)

Wootton Bassett series
Wilts and Berks Canal series
Canals series
Swan series

Taken with Pentax K-5 and Pentax HD P-DA 55-300 mm F4-5.8 ED WR lens

Wilts & Berks at Templars Firs, 11 August 2019 (Flickr album of 53 photos)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Janis Ian - Boots Like Emmylou's (1999)
I'm very much in favour of songs that reference Emmylou Harris having been a big fan of her and the Hot Band in the seventies, so when I heard this for the first time it was a must to include. I linked to First Aid Kit's Emmylou back in 2012.

One Year Ago:
Calne