Each year I keep a look out for the first sighting of our local swans. Walking into town this morning, saw the latest batch for the first time. Makes the day brighter!
Nine cygnets this year. Last year it was eight and all survived. The year before, not so fortunate, with only four surviving.
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Nine... that's an unusually large brood, isn't it?
There are wetland nature reserves not far from me, and I expect there will be similar scenes there.
A longer car or bus journey away is the famous Abbotsbury Swannery, which always attracts many visitors to see the cygnets, and with luck even see one or two hatch as although the birds are wild and free to come and go, many nest right next to the public paths around the reserve. The swans don't know the swannery was established in Mediaeval times by a local monastery (hence the village name) to breed the birds for eating!
A few years ago the Swannery managers erected road-signs worded "Baby Swans Hatching". This baby-talk attracted a lot of criticism, and one or two signs were altered unofficially, so next year the signs did read "Cygnets Hatching".
