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A few years back I met a couple from Rome who were visiting Scotland on holiday.
Luca and Marina were impressed by Scotland and Orkney in particular, they enjoy photographing the wildlife.
Our resident Swans they find most impressive, and have just enjoyed 2 days admiring Popeye, Penny and the Cygnets, something they cant see in Rome ! We have kept in touch over the past few years and they keep an eye on the blog too.
They are bird lovers and have saved many sick and injured birds when living in Rome. Luca and Marina have now decided to migrate to Orkney and I wish them well.
At considerable cost they have brought two birds with them which they could not part with, an African grey Parrot called Karma and a Monk parakeet called Puck which they saved from death a while back. I had the joy of meeting these birds today and could feel the love and bond between Luca, Marina and Karma and Puck.
Karma they have had for 13 years,and it does speak both Italian and some English, more than can be said for my Italian !!
As a matter of interest Luca tells me that Rome is plagued by seagulls - much more than we have here....so stop complaining !
With Rain in the hills, the river has started to rise catching the Swans out. Trying to return to the harbour the cygnets kept getting washed downstream, so in the end Popeye and Penny had to wait until the tide came in to help them get back up river.
For the first time in 8 years Penny allowed all 7 cygnets to get on her back, her previous record was 6. They were feeling the cold so decided Mum was the best place to get warm ! Sequence of pics tells the story
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The seven cygnets are still on the go, and the injured one seems to be fine.
By an amazing stroke of luck I found a dead Crow close to Merryton bridge yesterday. I decided to put it to good use on the swans island as a deterrent, so far it seems to be having the desired effect !
As always, the Swans are drawing a lot of photogenic attention, so here's a selection of mine over the past few days.
With the cygnets under constant attack from a particular crow, we almost lost another today, but for Good Samaritans who did not pass by.
Jimmy and Kay Young witnessed Popeye trying to protect the cygnet after the attack, then chasing the crow as it headed to the swans nest again ! This left the cygnet alone at the neck of the moat and open to attack. Jimmy and Kay stepped in and sheltered the cygnet while they sent for my assistance. I was glad they did because the cygnet had an injury to the head that needed medical attention.
Jimmy and Kay were kind enough to run me and the cygnet to Moray coast vets where it was given antibiotics, and the gash on the head sealed with surgical glue.
We then returned to the river where I put the cygnet back to Penny on the nest,
she readily accepted the cygnet but gave me a hiss all the same !
Later this afternoon I got a chance to check the nest since she brought all 7 cygnets into the water, there was one remaining cracked bad egg which I removed.
This was a necessary procedure so that she would not continue to sit on it, thus depriving the cygnets of much needed attention. There was a clutch of 10 originally, but with only seven alive and one bad egg - this means that the crows must have killed two cygnets.
I checked the injured cygnet this afternoon and evening, it seems none the worse for it's ordeal at the hands of the crow, me and the vet ! The cygnet is the one with the dent on the right side of the head . The sequence of Pics tells the story. My thanks to Moray coast vets and Jimmy and Kay for taking some photos of the drama on display.
Having killed around 50 ducklings in the river so far, the crows have now also killed a cygnet earlier today! Eye witness accounts told me the crow was jumping around the nest area and eventually made a successful grab for a newly hatched cygnet, killing it at the base of the island.
Penny was still hatching her clutch and could not move, and Popeye the cob was limited with his reach. I am still surprised that the crow got so close to the nest during the hatching. These crows are causing a huge amount of carnage on the riverside, and are becoming ever more skilled as time goes by. Having retrieved the dead cygnet I was surprised by the size and weight, and the crow could not have flown off with it. No wonder tiny ducklings don't stand a chance with these predators.
The River Nairn Swans and Waterfowl Trust will have to see what action we can take to combat this destructive menace.
The swans hatching is still in progress, but the windy weather is very much in the crows favour.
While retrieving the dead cygnet, I took the opportunity of taking a few pics and short video of the nest site below, enjoy !
For the 8th year Popeye and Penny have done the business and started to hatch their cygnets. Today I expected the hatch and was not disappointed. For a brief moment the skies were clear and I saw the first one appear from under her wings.
The weather ensured that it was brief, because the heavy showers and cold wind made her tuck them under her protective wings. I did manage however to get a few shots as Penny gave herself a clean underneath. I am fully expecting at least 8 but possibly her record of 9 yet again.
The cold weather is a problem and might drive her into the harbour for shelter too quickly, plus the fact that the resident Otters pose a real threat to the cygnets.
Once again the Crows have wiped out the entire river population of Ducklings in the past week, so far all 4 hatchings that I'm aware of have been taken by the Crows.
Two days ago I rescued another 2 ducklings that were about to be taken, having seen one of their siblings being picked off the surface of the moat by a crow.
The Mother was nowhere to be seen and most likely chased by the single Drakes, leaving the ducklings to the mercy of the crows. It was more than I could stand so added them to the 8 recently incubated ones from an abandoned nest. They have been accepted since there was only about three days difference in age.
Meanwhile the mother with 9 is doing well in the safety of the aviary. These ducklings are the only survivors in what has been a devastating couple of weeks on the lower river. For those of you who haven't managed to see any this year so far...a short clip of the ones in the brooder below.
Over the last couple of weeks the Sand Martins have been scouring the lower river in search of food.
The cold weather has done them no favours, but these beautiful elegant little birds have been working overtime, picking up the tiniest of flies from the riverside.
Trying to take photos of them is pretty difficult, since they are always in flight.
However I spent some time today at a spot where they repeated their flight paths, and managed a few reasonable shots.
The rescued Mother duck and her brood of 9 have settled in and thriving.
The same can be said for the 8 newly hatched ducklings - a photo of a mother duck helps with their rearing and security.
The River Nairn Swans and Waterfowl Trust has a new Trustee Secretary, and close Guardian of the riverside birds. Morag Paterson has Taken over from Carla Payne who is stepping down due to family, work, and other commitments. The Trust wishes to thank Carla for her past endeavours for the Trust.
Morag who lives in Harbour street overlooking the river, is ideally placed to keep a close eye on our river wildlife. Morag is also a keen outdoors and fitness guru, and has a pleasant diplomatic manner.
She has a hands on approach to the riverside and is not afraid to pick up occasional litter which annoys most of us !
The Trust now has 147 members and many other local supporters, Morag is a welcome addition to the Trusts organisation.
Another welcome addition to the river this morning was a new Mother with 14 ducklings!
Sometimes young first year inexperienced ducks get caught out by the changing tide heights, some lay their eggs below the spring tide levels. One such case was last month when I spotted a scattered flooded nest with 10 eggs, two of which had been broken open by the gulls or crows. There was no point in leaving the eight remaining eggs since the mother had abandoned the nest which was being flooded daily. I took them home and checked to see if incubation had already started but appeared not so - but still viable so put them in the incubator. I already had another single egg in the fridge which unbelievably one young duck had laid on the stone riverside path, so I marked it with the letter S and put that in the incubator too ! After 6 days I candled the eggs and discovered that 8 had living embryos and one was a dud.
The above photo was taken this morning showing 4 newly hatched ducklings, the others should hatch within the next 24 hours. The single one marked with an S is still to hatch, but at least it will have many brothers and sisters to greet it !!
When safe to do so, these ducks will be reared and released back into the river.
Ducks are amazing at choosing awkward nest sites, safety from predators is their primary concern, and who can blame them. They have to lay and incubate their clutch undisturbed for 5 weeks. With that in mind, one of the ducks I helped rehab 3 years ago - a sister of Sari one of the light coloured ducks chose a very good nest site.
Unfortunately it was behind a wall which the hatched ducklings had no chance of scaling. I did provide a ramp the day before hatching, but for whatever reason she did not use it and I had no choice but to rescue the whole family of 8 ducklings. They are now safely in the coop, and will have the use of the Aviary for the next few weeks until it's safe to release them back to the river.
I am particularly pleased with this rescue, because this same duck had two broods last year - all of which were taken by crows....this time she will have something to crow about when she gets back to the river !
