Wetland Nest

When we have time we visit our nearby wetland to check out how the swan couple are going. We are being told that the male swan is doing most of the sitting, but we are not sure about that from what we have read on the internet. Certainly the female had to lay the eggs and the laying seemed to take a few weeks, one egg at a time. The couple settled on six as revealed last blog post and the chance siting we had today confirms that six is officially set. Soon we'll be very excited to see six little cygnets swimming about. Peter made a video of the day which can be viewed HERE. In one of the scenes a Eurasian Coot ventures onto the nest for a close encounter. The music in the video is 'Walkerman Waltz' composed and played by Peter's brother.

Six Swan Eggs

Just occasionally the brooding swan would stand to inspect the eggs. We have to be lucky to be there just at that time and be quick enough with the camera to record the number. The latest opportunity we had revealed six eggs. We are hopeful that when Spring arrives all six eggs will produce live cygnets. This is not guaranteed but we can hope. Peter has stitched together another video of the action near and around the nest for record sake HERE. Two of the three loud bird calls in the video are by a Black Swan and the other is made by a Moorhen (bird with the blue feathers).