Expect the unexpected...
There have been some hilarious autumnal antics going on over the past couple of weeks.
The juvenile mute swans all seem to be on the move, and have been crash landing all over the place! As pairs kick out their babes from 2013, they need to find a spot to over-winter.
The intended spot must clearly be the Slimbridge Big Pen. Designed with swans in mind it has a long strip of water for run up and take off, and a thrice daily organised feed! Despite this large and easily defined stretch of water, inexperienced and tired juveniles keep crashing into our netting whilst trying to roost!
This beast of a babe wasn't too keen on being asked to walk backwards up a netted hill! Without our aid though they can go round and round for ages... In very bad circumstances we need to cut them out, but the majority of the time they simply come as close as every they can to experiencing a trampoline! This net is so loose this bird might even have hit the ground! You tend to find them just so; erect, bouncing, and enjoying the breeze on their underparts!
The same morning I came across another remarkable feat; a Freckled duck washing. Having voluntarily been soaking wet for upwards of 8 weeks, this bird finally found the sunshine and decided waterproofing might well be a sensible venture! Those poor feathers still lack a good coating of preening oil, and it will be several weeks of careful application before this bird can face a thunderstorm. I cannot understand how they survive the wild Australian thunderstorms that they experience during their native breeding season. Maybe warm rain is ok, or maybe preening for a Freckled duck is not an innate knowledge but a matter of nurture. Either way, it is nice to see this particular bird on the way to adulthood.
That afternoon we cleaned the first Graduation pond. Containing 10 big fat smelly Common Eider, the water fills up with poo pretty quick and so a weekly clean is entirely necessary. During the scrubbing process, the Eiders sit on the back fence looking mildly put out. The 2:7 Smew on the other hand (and in particular the females) want to join in! They love poking around in the crevices on the bottom of the concrete pond, and munching on the crustaceans that come out of the pipe. On this particular day there was only one thing they wanted to do; stick their beaks inside the hose! This cute little pair of females spent a good ten minutes playing this game, until they had the approach angle for a complete body soaking absolutely perfect!
As ever, the intelligence and inquisitiveness of the Smew continues to charm me :)
Feed time brought me another swan on the net. This one was more angry than the last and gave us the run around! It was dropped off in the Big Pen some 20 minutes later...
