A man on a bench beside two swans

I sat beside the south facing wall on the outside of Stonehouse Court Hotel. I had thought of going in to the grounds of the hotel where you can sit out and drink coffee in their garden. In the end I stayed with the view over the canal very near St Cyr’s church, where earlier bell ringers had been practising for sometime.

Where I sat was beside the footpath which is the equivalent of the towpath although not directly beside the water. A man was sitting on the bench beside the canal bank and the new small landing stage for boats. Just to the right of the bench at the end of the landing stage is a muddy slope where the resident swans habitually climb out of the canal to preen their feathers. Last summer the pair of swans also had seven cygnets, which they’ve obviously managed to force out of their patch.

I was very surprised when the pair of swans floated up to the muddy bank and then waddled up onto the grass beside the bench. I thought the man would vacate the bench immediately but he didn’t seem phased by their presence, not them by him. I think when breeding begins again and they have more offspring they would much more antagonistic towards humans sharing their space.