March 23rd – Passing through Brownhills in the morning, I paid a call on the Watermead swan couple. Not sure if there are any eggs yet, but the nest is looking good and a bird is clearly sitting.
I look forward to watching another batch of cygnets thrive and grow. Exciting times!
July 29th – I met the Watermead swan family who were making fair speed along the canal back from Chasewater towards Brownhills, but old habits die hard and they drifted from their central course to see me, just in case I had food. I didn’t, and they were visibly irritated.
The five youngsters are now pretty much the size of their parents and their adult, white plumage is starting to come through.
Another successful brood for these experienced parents marks out another good year for local swans. But where are the youngsters going every year?
June 12th – Here’s something to gladden the heart.
It was sad to lose one of the Watermead swan brood, but a lady who’s been nesting for an awful long time in a Walsall Wood canalside garden has finally hatched a pair of chicks.
As I returned from work, mom and day were proudly taking to the water with their two cygnets – one for a while tucked protectively under mum’s wing.
Watching it emerge and swim excitedly with it’s sibling was a real joy.
I honestly thought her eggs were not going to hatch. A wonderful sight.
June 11th – On a post repair test ride, bad news.
The Watermead swan family are now down to five from the original six. The remaining cygnets looked healthy and well though.
Most likely the victim of a hungry fox, it’s normal to lose a cygnet or two to predators in every urban clutch – we’ve been lucky in recent years to be relatively unscathed, but one has to remember the prodigious clutch sizes of these birds and consider that maybe some population control is natural.
When the youngsters start ground roosting separately as opposed to in a protective huddle, they are easy prey to Reynard and hopeful, the loss has been a warning to the remaining five.
Sad, so very sad – but it’s nature, red in tooth and claw.
May 28th – I set out on a sunny afternoon to pay a visit to Fazeley floating market, and on the way, hopped on the canal from Brownhills to Newtown to see if I could spot the Watermead swan family, just to see how they were doing.
I found them, unusually, near Anchor bridge; still six cygnets in umber and mum and dad still very, very attentive – but my, they’re growing – and they’ll soon be losing that characteristic fluffiness.
Nice to see the family prospering.
May 20th – I popped out for a short run on shopping errands to Brownhills, in a gap in the rain. I caught up with the watered swan family on the ramp between the Canoe Centre and the basin on the corner – the youngsters, still numbering six, were lounging and taking naps under the watchful eye of mum and dad.
The adults weren’t at all aggressive with me, so they must be getting used to the human attention, but I was glad of the zoom to keep me out of pecking range.
It’s clearly very tiring work, being cute.
May 7th – I went to see the swans down at the Watermead, and found them at Silver Street, enjoying the sun and learning from mum and dad how to forage.
They are still very much grey balls of fluff and adorable, and I spent a lovely ten minutes watching their antics as they splashed, bickered and tried to copy their parents.
So good to see this young family grow and develop.
May 6th – Another cheering thing was the discovery that the Watermead swan couple, nesting near the canoe centre in Brownhills, had finally hatched their clutch. Not huge this year at six cygnets, but not a poor showing either, it was lovely to see the little grey balls of fluff out learning how to feed with their parents.
Squabbling, squeaking and flapping around, it’s impossible for these little birds to make you anything less than joyous.
I hope none are predated this year, but with the preponderance of foxes and herons, we may well lose young chicks in the coming week or two, and we should be prepared – most years one or two are lost.
Also, if you go to see these lovely creatures – and what better wildlife sight could you share with young kids – then feed them greens or seed, but not bread. Bread has no nutritional value to waterfowl and can cause health problems. They like garden peas and greens,. and always enjoy seed.
Go and see these wonderful little chaps while they’re young and fluffy!
September 16th – On the way through Wednesfield, I met their swan family; mum, dad and six cygnets in rude heath. The young are as big as their parents and look well developed.
Bickering and playfully pecking each other, they were clearly enjoying life and seemed like a happy, noisy family uint, clearly on a mission to the east, assisted by the wind.
A real delight.
April 7th – A surprisingly hard ride up to Pye Green, over the Chase and back over Shugborough. The wind was wolfish, and changed direction mid-ride, attacking on the way, and the return. Hugely enjoyable, though.
It was a ride of oddities and unusual scenes. The ghost doll and Bassett hound weathervane were spotted within meters of each other in Norton, while the rabbits dined happily on the grass of the Shugborough Estate. A young lad fed swans corn from a narrowboat, and the the Chase itself was as cinematic as ever.
I feel autumn at my shoulder already, and the lords and ladies berries are showing well – their vivid colour warning of their strong toxicity.
On the way back, in the evening cool not far from Longdon, I was surprised to come upon a badger, crossing the road; before I could get the camera, it scooted out of sight, and a mate tentatively stuck it’s head of of the hedge. I wanted 15 minutes or more, camera poised and perfectly still for them to re-emerge, then I gave up. Just as I zipped up the camera bag, both animals sauntered back over the road, as cool as you like.
They knew, they obviously knew. Buggers.
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