The cygnets have hatched!

Today I had an appointment at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton.  F came with me and we set off with lots of time to spare as the journey takes over an hour.

The traffic was queueing due to the village roadworks diversion.  We got to the A5 near Shrewsbury and there was a very slow traffic jam due to roadworks there.

We got past that and came to miles of slow traffic due to an accident on the M54. The roads were also especially busy due to it being the end of the half term holiday.

Despite our early start, we arrived at the time of my appointment.  I tried to phone the department but the phoneline was closed for the lunch hour so I couldn't let them know.

I hate being late for anything so felt terrible about it.  Luckily they were very understanding and I went in straight away.  Phew!

Afterwards we had our picnic at Moseley Old Hall and then had a walk around their gardens.

When we got home I had a walk to the castle and was pleased to see Lady Beatrice the swan with four newly hatched cygnets. There were six eggs so there could be more.

After their nest was vandalised a couple of years ago, money was raised for cctv.  There's a live stream here to watch them live.  You might even see me creeping around with my camera!!

Unfortunately they always nest by the road (even busier than usual at the moment)  but they never seem to mind.