Saturday, 16 March 2019

A walk round the pond - Week 11

Another of the swans has been killed and eaten since last week, presumably by a fox.  I found a few bones and hundreds (or thousands) of feathers but nothing much else.  The adult swan and the remaining three cygnets were carrying on as if nothing had happened which I guess is the way it is in the natural world.  But is it just me, or do the swans look sad?




The same ducks were present as last week - a pair of wigeons and a pair of gadwalls but they don't stay around for photos.  I also saw a coot, a little grebe, two buzzards, a reed bunting, a grey heron and a bullfinch, amongst others.

Hawthorn leaves are just emerging and coltsfoot and blackthorn are coming into flower.


A couple of willow trees are in flower but it was a cold windy day and I saw no insects visiting the flowers.

There were no frogs to be seen but the first frogspawn was floating in the margin of the larger pond.

I hope to see frogs and/or toads next week, and hope there are still four swans.

5 comments:

  1. It's called anthropomorphism Chris, and it can be considered a major consumer of the world's resources....Those yellow flowers do look happy though!..

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    1. You could be right but mute swans usually mate for life and grieve at the loss of a mate - see https://www.swanlifeline.org.uk/the-mute-swan/ which says "Whilst unlikely to pine to death at the loss of a mate swans will generally go through a period of mourning.". Of course we don't know the relationship between all these birds but they are most likely to be a mother and three offspring, perhaps having lost the father and now one sibling. Meanwhile the fox is getting fat.

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    2. David see also https://www.audubon.org/news/do-birds-grieve.

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  2. Yes, they do look sad. That doesn't mean they are sad, but that's not what you said! Perhaps you need to give us a random selection of photos of swans with these ones scattered through them. Could we pick out the sad ones? I've changed my thinking on this a bit: Carl Safina "Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel". He says if they behave as if they love you, then you have no more reason to doubt their emotions than when seeing the same behaviour in people - referring to dogs. Complex area.

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    1. I'll try to find a cheerful-looking swan for you next week Phil.

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