Swans......

[Andy_R]

You should have put a call out when you were down. Good beer shandy at sreasonable extortionate prices needs local expertise.

You just made me laugh so much I wee'd a little bit..........It's that there Lundun...no such thing as good beer, be it at reasonable or unreasonable prices......

 

[Hover Fly]

Possibly, but possibly not..

The British monarchy owns all mute swans in British waters thanks to a 12th-century law enacted to prevent common people from eating swans, which were considered a delicacy by the monarchy. While the ruling monarchy no longer eats swan, they still protect and claim ownership of swans,...

By default. The monarch can claim all unmarked swans, as bunny said the nobility lost interest in eating swans so ceased to go to the trouble of marking the cygnets which so revert to the monarch. Illustrations of marks going back to 1400 exist which show ownership in Northampton and Norfolk.
http://www.royalswan.co.uk/sources/

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

You just made me laugh so much I wee'd a little bit..........It's that there Lundun...no such thing as good beer, be it at reasonable or unreasonable prices......

As I said, local expertise. You can't tell everywhere to go because you'd never get to the bar afterwards.

 

[jefmcg]

Swans here just look weird. They're the wrong colour.

that's better

Not sure how serious people are being about the broken arm thing. It's not true. Birds that fly have to be light weight, and their bones are hollow. Apparently they can kill you though

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Walking over the Deptford creek footbridge at high tide yesterday I counted 18, not as many as @ianrauk 's picture. Only one of them had juvenile plumage. They stayed in the calmest water by the river bank and many were taking fairly extented periods with their heads under the surface. Clearly feeding. There must be something particularly nutritious down there for them. The Ravensbourne would have been in spate earlier, after the heavy rain but it's not as though they'd found something that had been washed downstream because they were already there when it was dry and the river was running shallow. It might be that high tide - it must be slightly brackish water there, though I'm not tempted to taste it - brings something inland that they can eat at leisure in still water. As I said, their heads were submerged for quite long periods so that it almost looked as though they were filter feeding.

 

[Ganymede]

[QUOTE 3882727, member: 9609"]A couple of years back I was asked to help an SSPCA officer retrieve an injured swan from a remote part of the river, it took for ever to catch it as it just kept paddling out into the middle of the river, we both ended up pretty soaked - anyway, when we did catch it she had a special bag that held its wings to its side, I was quite surprised how calm it was once its wings were held down, it didn't use its head to attack us, it seemed very relaxed and seemed to quite enjoy having its chin tickled, it was the canniest thing. We took turns carrying it the few miles back to the road, was wonderful to follow the woman when she was carrying, it was in a bag over her shoulder with its head pointing backwards - no matter how bumpy the path the swans head just appeared to be motionless, that long neck seemed perfect for compensating any unevenness in the path - it was all a little surreal.[/QUOTE]
I had to pick up two stray chickens the other day in my lane. The wing trick works for them too. I ended up cycling along on my 'bent with two rather startled birds tucked under my left arm with the wind in their combs. I like to think they enjoyed their brief trip. (I hasten to add that I knew whose birds they were and was taking them to their home.)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Loosely on topic:

 

[Chris S]

I saw a pair of swans in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, last week. I can't remember seeing any there before.

 

[Leaway2]

taking fairly extended periods with their heads under the surface.

Probably hiding in shame at being in Deptford. Wherever that is.

 

[ianrauk]

Probably hiding in shame at being in Deptford. Wherever that is.

It's outside my window.

 

[ianrauk]

I was a little concerned this week as there have been no Swans on the Creek. However a solitary fellow is 'swanning' around this morning. The rest must be further up the Creek.

And.. this fellow seemed to have arrived this morning.

 

[Brandane]

I saw this family on the Forth and Clyde canal at Clydebank whilst out on a ride at the weekend. They cost me my last Stoats bar to get them close enough together for a photo opportunity:

After they had demolished my expensive cereal bar, they just "swanned" off, as if they owed me nothing. Cheeky, cheeky swans!

 

[ianrauk]

And they do look bigger then the parent.

 

[Tim Hall]

You should have got the young to swim in a circle. A cygnet ring.

 

[fimm]

There have been a couple of big swan families on the canal in Edinburgh, too. It is usual to see a couple of cygnets make it to full size, but these have been big groups, just like in Brandane's photos.