On Sunday afternoon, I popped over to Venus for a few hours. Now, every winter, we have quite a large flock of around 20-25 mute swans (with 1 black swan) spend their time in the surrounding fields and on the river Severn near Atcham. This winter, this flock has increased greatly in size! In fact I think that there may be two large flocks as I saw about 20 in one field and 30 in another about 4 miles away (as the crow flies).
When I arrived at Venus, there were more swans than I've ever seen there! Then after a while, I saw some birds coming in the distance and thought they were geese due to the quantity, but it was more swans!!
A panorama of just part of the pool:
There were adults as well as juveniles and lots of courtship displays going on! (Including between the juveniles which surprised me!)
'Necking':
Synchronised head dunking!
Lots of 'stretching':
Juveniles getting in on the act:
Some arriving:
and others leaving:
Made rather an entertaining afternoon!
The female scaup was back with the tufties too! I wonder if they might interbreed??
There was also shovellers, teal, wigeon, pochard, buzzard, crows, rooks, jacks and magpies, a redshank, a few snipe and a song thrush! (Plenty of finches and tits too)
Now! I hope the pics stay!!!! Fingers crossed!!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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What a great set of pictures. That is a very large flock. When you see how together swans are you wonder how anyone could hurt them.
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
Thanks Birdwatcher! Have you ever seen so many mutes together? I found it quite amazing!! I know that there are large gatherings at an Abbey on the south coast where they are fed daily.
Lovely set of photos, Marjus. They are such graceful and elegant birds. I wonder whether there are more this year because of the extreme cold weather during the winter. Did Venus Pool stay unfrozen, for example, and was therefore a vital lifeline.
I think the location where there are large gathererings of swans to which you refer is Abbotsbury near Chesil Beach in Dorset. I've never been there but I believe it is quite a tourist attraction. Here's a link to their site which includes the ability to do a virtual tour.
http://www.abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk/swannery.htm
Regards
TJ
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Tony
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Thank TJ! The nature reserve pool did freeze over when it was very cold but just 'next door' there is a fishing pool which is very dep and didn't freeze. The river Severn is close by too.
Abbotsbury! That's it! I could remember the 'Abbot' bit but wasn't sure about the ending! Lol! Thank you for the link, shall have a nosey later!
Thank you Marjus for your superb photos of these graceful birds. They really are magnificent. The most I have ever seen together was at Worcester on the Rivern Severn. There seemed to be hundreds of them. We were in a small narrow boat trying to navigate to a suitable mooring and were surrounded by them. They weren't making life easy for us!
Cheers, Linda.
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Hi MarJus,
Lovely photos of the swans. I have never seen as many as that before. I saw 18 mute swans on a very short stretch of river in town a few weeks ago. An amazing sight and I was sorry not to have the camera with me.
Even though I live in the south I haven't visited Abbotsbury yet. Thanks for the reminder, I might do that this year.
There is something new to learn everyday...
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Thanks Sparrow! I would have been terrified about hurting them! I would imagine it would make things tricky!
Thanks SB! I look forward to the photos if you do go! :-)
WOW! That is a brilliant set of photos MarJus - what a fabulous visit that must have been for you. Thanks so much for sharing it.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Thank you Squirrel! You are most welcome! :-) Always good to share the nice things!!
What are people's thoughts on the likelihood of tufted / scaup interbreeding?