The Matriarch

Our Swan family are large and very close, yet my parents generation came from families that were just as large in those days ! It makes you think and appreciate just how tough they were, trying to provide and keep them all towing the line ! Today I watched as two cygnets started flirting and doing a ritual mating session. I wasn't the only one watching, and the pen kept a close eye on proceedings until another two joined in...she was not amused ! She is very much the Matriarch of the family and decided it was time to intervene, what she wants she always gets !

The sequence of pics tells the story from the cygnets flirting until she moves across the river to show her displeasure. They were suitably humbled and put in their place by the Matriarch, followed up by the cob.