With a cold Easterly blowing we predicted that we might get some interesting wildfowl... perhaps a small party of White-fronted Geese or some Bewick's Swans... but no... we get a family party of five Black Swans that came in from the east at about 8am. They landed on the closest bit of Purfleet Scrape and after orientating a bit settled down for a kip. They are still here this evening and (please do not laugh) are wary and unapproachable. Now I am not saying that they have come from Australia but they have the feel of wild born birds and quite possibly have been moved on by the cold weather from the increasing feral population in Holland.
There is no way of telling but they have been a real pleasure to watch today having spent almost all of the day asleep with small bouts of feeding and paddling around. They were very unsure of the cattle! They have in fact been behaving in exactly the same way as the small parties of 'wild' swans that we have occasionally had here...
Black Swan is not part of the official British list ... at the moment... but I suspect that one day it may become naturalised in the same way that Egyptian Goose and Ring-necked Parakeet have, so remember where you saw your first 'good' ones....
Simply stunning (Thomas Bell)
21-2-13