A swan drama

Lovely early walk today with the ladies and M.

Set off early to go via the cricket ground in the hope of perhaps seeing some deer but maybe 6.45 am was too late or the recently mown grass was putting them off coming out from the rough margin. 

Enjoyed catching up with the others on the walk and walking through the long grass in the meadow, as usual we ended up at Coppice Pond. One of our ladies had said there had been two new cygnets spotted,  the ones born just over a month ago now down to 2 from 7 and reaching that rather gangly ugly duckling stage.

Here is the new mother with her two youngsters. She looks like an juvenile female as her beak/bill is still not coloured. When the youngsters got down from her back she proceeded to chase away one of the larger cygnets and then the dominant make swan started to attack the two little ones.

We ladies were all taking photos of the new comers and so we’re horrified to observe the ferocity of the attack and were pretty sure the outcome wasn’t going to be good. This time all was ok and you can see the two newcomers with their mum out in the water afterwards. Think there will continue to be count ups on the forthcoming pond visits. We’ll have to see what happens next, nature isn’t always easy to watch!

Home and after breakfast I got the ironing done before it was too hot. Chris has cut the grass even though he’s not feeling very well again - worse than he felt last week.

Hopefully our visit to the cinema in Ilkley will be restful enough for him this afternoon.

Had a FaceTime with Grace and Jude, Eda has gone on her end of pre school trip, Jude was busy putting on her fluffy clog slippers I’d sent her from Holland. They fit and she loves them which is great. Hope Eda likes her new Brussels lace edged pinny!