Home Alone

Another Otter Safari today and, as well as an Otter performing like a star in front of us (like yesterday, but today it was enjoyed through the delight of a 4-year old – who was very good at finding the otter when it changed location) we watched a swan soap-opera. At first the adults and their four cygnets were sitting around, not really doing much. Then another adult swan with one cygnet had the temerity to land on the pool. Both resident adults steamed across the water at great pace, wings arched in the menacing swagger of a mute swan riled, followed by the cygnets, all cheeping away – presumably the swan equivalent of “my dad’s bigger than your dad”. The interlopers flew off before any exchange of blows, and serenity returned. Then, unexpectedly, the swan family flew off – leaving one cygnet behind. As it swam up and down the pool, calling plaintively, the intruders returned…and the cygnet dealt with them by itself! As we left, the rest of the swan family could be seen on the adjacent pool – and we won’t know if they were all reunited until I check the site again (Friday morning on an Otter mini-safari – update will be posted on the blog as soon as I’m back in my office).