Tag: swans

March 1st – Although still very cold, it feels like spring is stirring. Crocus tips are turning colour in preparation to bloom, and the birdlife seems busy. I noted the swans on the canal near the old mill by Home Farm were looking cosy again. I’m convinced it’s the same couple from last year who nested, laid and failed to hatch their eggs – hopefully, they’ll have more success this year. 

The crested grebe was pottering about on Chasewater, away from the gull roost by the valve house on the damn. He was hard to photograph in poor light, but he was a beautiful chap, and did the customary grebe dive fro fish, which must mean there’s still a few in there.

If only the weather felt a bit more spring-like.

June 24th – Pottering up to Chasewater for the vintage festival, it turned out a pleasant, warm afternoon, so I had a gentle trundle round the park. It was good to see that after weeks of complaining by concerned wildlife enthusiasts, notices have finally been put up about the Little Ringed Plovers nesting on the shoreline. The delicate, fragile little fellows are often disturbed from their ground nests by dogs and walkers who don’t know they’re there. It seems very difficult to get the park management team – still from Lichfield District Council until 2014 – to do anything much these days. A complete change from previous regimes.

Coming back along the canal, another avian issue: the swan couple, who abandoned their nest of eggs earlier in the year are back. I have no idea what’s going on here, but it’ll sure be interesting to watch…

June 4th – A terrible day of botched plans and failed attempts. However, the riding was good. Heading out to Chasewater late morning, I noticed that as the abandoned swan nest on the canal near Sadler Road sinks, it’s now evident that they had eggs for sure. There seem to be three remaining, but some could have been lost to vermin and predation. I have no idea why they were abandoned. It’s silly, really, but this makes me very sad when I think about it. But it’s just nature.

May 24th – I was sad to note today that the Rugeley canal swan brood I pictured on Sunday is down to six cygnets from seven. Probably picked off by a brave fox, mink, stoat or weasel, perhaps even a bird of prey, one must remember that this is why they have large clutches of eggs. Sad as it is, nature red in tooth and claw. A sobering thing indeed.

May 20th – I escaped late afternoon, and headed over Chasewater to Cannock Chase. It was a pleasant, warm afternoon and evening, and the Chase and countryside around it was pretty deserted. Whilst the swans I was watching don’t appear to have had success (although both birds are still hanging around the nest, which seems odd) couples elsewhere seem to be doing well. I noticed a pair nesting on one of the ‘orphan’ pools in Chasewater’s northern lakebed. Secluded by reeds and young willows, they have a very well protected nest, and had the sun not been shining on them, I’d never have noticed. Meanwhile, on the canal at Rugeley, this pair of proud (and surprisingly tolerant) parents allowed me to photograph their seven healthy cygnets.

May 17th – Sadly, I have to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Swan seem to have abandoned their nest at the back of Sadler Road. I’ve popped past a couple of times this week, and although in close proximity, neither bird has been sitting, and I think they’ve abandoned the eggs, but can’t see from the opposite bank. I know there were eggs, as I saw the female fretting, turning them last Friday. Either they’ve been predated by rats or (very brave) foxes, or have just been barren, I don’t know which. I feel oddly bereft by this, as I was so looking forward to recording the growth of the cygnets… yet this couple had a false run last year, too. Maybe they aren’t old enough yet, or just haven’t got it together. Sad.

May 13th – I returned via the canal. Not to check out the swans, whose eggs I now felt lost, but to best get some respite from the biting headwind and ride some level ground. Passing the nest, I was shocked and surprised to see the female back on the nest, fast asleep, with her partner milling around foraging in the nearby reeds. I don’t know if this is normal swan behaviour or not, nor if the eggs will survive the periods of their mother’s absence. Can anyone help here? I found the whole thing quite baffling…

May 13th – I checked out the swans again today. When I passed by at about 2pm, neither bird was on the nest. Had predators had the eggs? Had Mrs. Swan decided they were barren and not to hatch? I’d been really looking forward to seeing the young hatchlings and it seemed all was lost – the pair were loafing in a garden don the canal bank. What could have gone wrong?

May 12th – I took great ride out through South Staffordshire, but it started by checking out the swans on the canal at the back of Sadler Road in Brownhills. I was concerned to see both birds off the nest, and feeding from bread left by walkers nearby. `it was a warm day, but having seen Mrs. Swan fretting over her clutch of eggs the evening before, I felt sure this was bad…. I went on my way with a somewhat heavy heart.

May 11th – At least I know now that Mrs. Swan has eggs. When I took a look tonight, the nest site behind Sadler Road, Brownhills, still had no hatchlings, but mum was standing on the edge of her nest turning the olive-couloured eggs in a gentle, determined fashion. I hope they’re OK. I didn’t know they did this, but having spoken to a seasoned birder since, it seems this is perfectly normal. Here’s hoping for little ones soon…