The last couple of days has all been about Mute Swans out on the marsh. For starters the pair on Purfleet Scrape are still playing the non-committal game with a pretend nest and lots of posturing still. I suspect that they are fairly new to this breeding lark and will stake their claim next year. They have spent today chasing off another pair that were looking to get in on the action!
(Barry Jackson)
Meanwhile the Dragonfly Pool pair have hatched six healthy cygnets leaving one addled egg in the nest. There was lots of ooooing and aaahhhhing as mum gave them all a ride. There will definitely be more images to come of this photogenic family!
At first we thought that there were only three! (by me)
Mum (David Dent)
A little further around the pair at the end of the Northern Trail have had a terrible couple of weeks and their nest and eggs got flooded out and all was lost. However, nest creation of an epic scale has since taken place and this pair have definitely re-built with a view of withstanding a Biblical scale deluge! Mum looked absolutely exhausted and had already laid at least three eggs in her down filled basket.
Having a breather (by me)
And last but by no means least there is the Aveley Pools pair who are inside the FFZ and hopefully will raise the six young that hatched today for the first time in many years as their land based nest has usually been predated by foxes as soon as the cygnets hatch. Being a stroppy male is part of what being a Cob Mute Swan is all about and this one is no exception. Yesterday he decided that the emergent vegetation almost on top of a Coot nest was to his liking but this did not stop him and he got a serious shouting at by the male Coot while his other half brooded between the two during their standoff!
17-5-12
Howard Vaughan, Information Officer