We want bread!

These cygnets learned about bread a while ago, clearly an important part of their development. They are now about three weeks old, growing fast (particularly their necks), and they rely less on their parents to feed them. There are still seven of them - the other cygnet was some way away from the rest of them.

Better large.

We saw a sad sight today - one of the pairs of coots has a second brood which has just hatched (since Wednesday, when I was last at the pond). We saw a herring gull swoop down and catch one of the chicks, which it subsequently ate. I know that herring gulls have to eat, and that not all baby birds make it to adulthood, but it was quite shocking to witness.