Harbour Mates

Our Resident Swans seem to be convinced that spring is here, and today had a mating session in the harbour. The lead up starts with elongating their necks and dipping their heads in turn, followed by dipping their heads in unison. After this, each one brushes it's side then dipping in unison yet again. The pen pushes herself lower in the water and nuzzles up to the cob, he raises his head high then crosses over the pens neck several times to dip in the water. The pen continues to dip her head, eventually lowering and slightly extending her folded wings into the water. The cob takes this action of the pen to proceed with mating, and walks onto her back. There is surprisingly no clumsiness and a fair bit of tender closeness. The mating is brief, and finally they both stretch high into the air touching each other gently. A quick wash and flourish of the wings and the mating is over.