Tonight, instead of watching “Springwatch” on TV we went out to enjoy the sunny evening and see what we could observe on the canal. All was quiet and I was just saying, “I hear there’s some cygnets been seen…ooaah, and there they are!” Coming round a bend towards us was a swan with a group of about 4 or 5 cygnets following behind. Just as I whipped my camera out of my rucksack all the cygnets bar one climbed up onto their Mum’s back for a ride. Mum was in quite a hurry and the last wee one was paddling frantically at the rear trying to keep up.
It made a huge effort and then it too managed to scramble onto Mum’s back. It must have been exhausted!
It was a beautiful sight to see them, especially with the marbled reflections of lush green foliage.
We also saw some ducklings. Mum was very wary of hungry gulls scouting for supper so she ushered them out of sight into the reeds at the side. One duckling was being quite bold however and stayed in view.
Yesterday we went to see what new life there was on Hogganfield Loch. It was a cold rainy afternoon but we got to see lots of youngsters there. Many were past the baby stage and growing fast. Here is a young moorhen.
The coots chicks had developed into grey and white plumage.
The crested grebe chicks are now too big to be hitching rides. But they are still depending on their parents to feed them tiddlers for tea.
We were treated to a view of a Canada Goose family huddling together for warmth.
The goslings had their heads buried into their fluffy backs, but one popped its head up briefly.
Now to watch a recording of “Springwatch”, content to have seen the water babies on my own local patch.
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 