Lakeside Preening

We’re meeting up with G’s brother and his wife this afternoon, rendezvousing on Llanfairfechan prom. The weather has, unfortunately, decided to turn autumnal and it’s really chilly - I’m wearing my down coat for the first time for months. Not ideal weather for an al fresco meeting! 

As they are late - held up in the appalling roadworks due to the never ending ‘upgrading’ of the A55 - I take myself off to the lake and sit down on the grass watching the cygnets engage in their extensive preening session. 

These are the same birds I photographed earlier in the year when I blipped the backlit foot https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2993407534712227295. The family’s still together, the youngsters now as big or bigger than their parents. Whilst the whole family are engaged in preening, it’s the cygnets that catch my eye. Those cappuccino colours are so much more interesting, as are their sooty heads and beaks. 

I love their graceful contortions as they try to neaten every perfect feather - apparently they have some 25,000  so it’s a mammoth task. Then every so often  there’s the stretching-tall-and-flapping-wings manoeuvre as if to shake off any   loosened feathers or dirt. 

I can’t resist the majesty of these young birds lifting these impossibly complex feathered wings into the air, hence today’s main, with a collage of extras.

Thanks so much for your kind words concerning yesterday’s medical issues. I actually had a phone call earlier today with an appointment for my ultrasound and treatment next Tuesday. Things are looking up!