Saturday 14 May 2016

First Dip



Today, thankfully the wind has dropped and the skies are blue, and the cygnets were taken for their first dip.

This gave me a chance to check the nest after the 6 hatched by yesterday. I found 2 eggs, one of which was obviously dead and I removed it,  the other I will leave for today but it probably won't hatch - most eggs hatch within 48 hours of the first one.


Penny seemed to think there should be another, for she kept calling and going back and forth to the nest. 


Anyway 6 cygnets makes it 62 that our pair have produced in the past 9 years, a considerable achievement.


The Sun was warm and the cygnets were taken down to the moat for their first dip, the water level is down and makes entry and exit difficult.



The ramp I made the other day did help them get out after the dip, but climbing to the nest was a marathon.


 One of the cygnets took a direct route to Penny's call, and led the others on a perilous climb to the summit.


All made it to the top but one was exhausted by the effort.



 The series of Pics tells the story and video at the end shows them preening on the nest. 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Out of interest and I appreciate that you can only guess which cygnets are male and which female, approximately how many of the previous offspring would be male and female?

jayteescot1 said...

As you rightly deduced it is a guess, but I would say 4 of the previous lot were female. The body width and neck length seem to be greatest on the males when they are virtually fully grown.