Cygnet

These cygnets make me smile so much. We were watching them in the rain when they ventured out of the nest, into the water and came straight across to us. Then they came out onto the path beside us with their parents! I've never been so close to little hatchlings before. They are still a bit wobbly when they're on the ground, falling backwards on their tail or wobbling forwards down onto their beaks. By the time the rain cleared quite a few people had stopped to take photographs and the swans took their cygnets back into the water and then on a tour round the edge of the pond! Quite the proud parents. They are unbelievably cute to watch. Lots of people stood there for a while, with huge grins on their faces.

The coot (that has nested about 5 feet away) is no longer content to just sneak by and steal twigs from the swans' nest when it thinks they're not watching, but was right in the empty nest taking twigs and pieces of bread away... They are also so much more aggressive and vicious than I realised. I've seen them chase gulls and ducks away from their own nest, but today one of the coots made a line for the cygnets and had one of them held under the water with its feet. It did this right beside the parents, who were very quick to fight back. The cygnet was fine, but the coot tried this a few times...