Cygnet

Today for the first time this year, I saw the parent Swans with six cygnets.

These are not park swans, they live on a rural section of the stream where there are no footpaths, so have very little human contact, and were very wary of me.

There is a pond fed by a spring next to the stream, and that is where the family was feeding when I came across them.

The pond is covered with water plants that stick up out of the water, and is surrounded by high rushes, so offers exceptional cover for the swans, but makes it very difficult to take photos.

There are mink on the river, and they will take ducklings - I hope the cygnets are too big to be victims to these ferocious incomers.