New swan

There has been a tragedy at Blackford Pond concerning the swan family. The male swan was found dead, floating in the pond with no head, mid-October. I cannot guess at what happened. The female swan and one cygnet were left at the pond. One of the cygnets may have flown away in September and maybe the third flew away in the midst of whatever trauma took place around the male swan. More recently a pair of swans were reported to be on the pond, thought to be the female and a new male. T and I met up at the pond and saw the current swans but we weren't sure whether either of these was the original female. One looked definitely an adult, probably a female we thought, and the other (in this photo) possibly a young adult as it had a pink/grey beak, rather than orange. T is going to ask an expert about the two birds.

In attendance there were also lots of male mallards looking splendidly smart in their breeding plumage, a little grebe adult and a well-grown young one, a pair of tufted ducks, a moorhen and numerous black-headed gulls.

It will be a question of watch this space as regards the swans. This year has been a very bad one for them with only three cygnets making it to adolescence and the male swan dying.