Time To Go !

After careful nurturing for 9 months, Slim and Sue have embarked on the task of expelling their cygnets from their birthplace.

 Slim has become more intolerant in the past few days and has now been joined by Sue in a joint effort to make the cygnets leave home and fend for themselves. 

The first to feel their displeasure is Runty and one other sibling, both of whom were chased downstream today,

                    this process will now accelerate over the coming days. It may take a couple of weeks before they eventually succeed  in forcing them away. 

May seem sad, but as Swans go, keeping their offspring around for 9 months is beyond the norm.

In Search Of Doris

 Regular Viewers will remember the successful rescue and rehab of Doris the mother duck, hit by a vehicle last summer while escorting her 10 ducklings to the river.  Spotting her among the 200 ducks on the river is nigh on impossible, except when rally close by.

 Apart from the mended broken right leg, She has one small difference on her bill... a blister in the centre top of her bill a couple of centimetres from the tip.

 She may have developed this after being hit by the vehicle. Conditions today were perfect to  spot her and I managed to get a few shots to confirm her identity. 

Was great to see her with many of her surviving ducklings around, she was keeping a close watch on me dishing out the feed! You can see the raised blister in these final photos ! 

Home Are The Cygnets, Back From The Sea

Our Swan family still intact and still staying in home waters. 

Daily seaside trips, but Sue and Slim still chaperon their fully grown cygnets back from the sea. 

They only have another month or so, before nesting season begins again!

Enforced Absence

 Regular viewers will have noticed an absence of up to date blog posts. I have in fact been hospitalised for the past week - now happily back home.

 Hopefully I can now recover at my own pace, and get back to caring for our birds ! 

Luckily, I was able to arrange some help during my enforced absence, and Trust member David Thomson managed to feed the river birds every day. The garden ducks and injured pigeon were also taken care of by other Trust members, Thanks to all of them ! 

Today, for the first time in a week, I was able to resume my usual duties. All of the birds were pleased to see me back, in spite of a snow melt rise in the river. Short shaky video below, as ducks get spooked by a dog.