Autumn Swan Watch, some pictures

Post by **FABlux** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:13 am

I had heard the expression many times but had to look it up to see exactly what it meant.

Spoiler

the practice in England of marking young swans with a notch in the upper beak as a sign of ownership

I love all the photo's but agree you do need good weather for Abbotsbury. We used to go virtually every year, especially when the kids were young, and later combined it with the Abbotsbury Tropical Gardens which are lovely. The gardens do wonderful candle lit winter wonderland evenings as well

Here's 1 I took in June thisyear on the Broads (any shake is hands trembling from the cold

)

Post by **BBLUX** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:39 am

A view looking down on Abottsbury Swannery from the Sub-Tropical
Gardens

A couple of images from the illuminated gardens

Bamboo

Ferns

That was four years ago...how time flies. I don't think we will ever be there again at that time of year.

Post by **Horus** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:54 am

Lovely pictures Fran & Barry thanks for sharing

The candle lit winter wonderland evening sounds really nice

were the illuminated pictures taken then?
And yes you are correct about Swan Upping, but don't tell Bennu

Tony, from what I remember she owns all of them! not just along the Thames, greedy devil

Post by **Kiya** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:58 am

Great swan pictures by all

Love your pics Fran & barry

Post by **BBLUX** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:06 am

Yes Horus, my pictures are dated 3rd November 2006. The gardens are lit by candle lamps and by carefully placed coloured spots. The tea rooms do a roaring trade in the evening as well. By but it was a cold evening but I guess that made it more magical as everyone was wrapped up in thick coats. The long view of the swannery was taken at around 4 in the afternoon so the light was just fading. It had been a lovely bright, clear cold day.

Post by **LovelyLadyLux** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:18 am

Love all the photos! The swans are beautiful.

Post by **FABlux** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:56 am

I think black swans are stunning & had some lovely photo's of a pair doing a mating display, sadly that was a printed photo & didn't make the journey

So if anyone has one I would love to see it?

Post by **Horus** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 2:45 pm

Sorry Fran, I have no black swans to post, but here is another couple of Mute swans from my collection

Male Swan

And seen here chasing off the opposition.

Post by **FABlux** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 4:05 pm

Those are lovely, I guess you could photo shop them black (just kidding) We regularly saw them at Marwell & they produced 5 babies after all that courting so we watched them grow up

Post by **Horus** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:34 am

This pair have managed to raise all five signets this year, last year a mink had a couple of them when they were quite small. These are already flying on occasion, so hopefully they will all survive into next year.

Post by **FABlux** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 9:24 am

They look good & strong, hopefully your flock/herd/bevy will grow year by year

Had to look up collective of swans after putting flock.

Wedge is when they are flying

Post by **LovelyLadyLux** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 10:07 pm

My contribution to the "swan" category.......They're pretty birds.

Awwwwww geeezzzzzzzzz - As always my photos are not publishing :cc

....lately this is making me too disheartened to keep up with all the effort to try and get a photo on here. Wish I knew 'why' 75% of the time I can't get a picture to come out.........Anyway - my swan (or swan song of today)

Mod edit:- Sorted

Post by **FABlux** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:22 am

No idea why you had a problem, maybe you picked up a hidden space or something

That is beautiful & part way to black

Post by **Horus** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 11:39 am

Nice picture LLL

don't give up on trying to post your pictures, as Fran says you are probably just making some small error with the code.

Post by **Grandad** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:10 pm

Beautiful creatures, and how do they keep their feathers SO white.

This cob was pecking grass at the edge of the pond yesterday and was unperturbed when I got up close for this uncropped portrait.

Post by **FABlux** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:35 pm

Lovely close up Grandad

:

I simply copied the code & pasted it when I edited it LLL, nothing different from what you did I'm sure. When I did one of mine before I got a blank & when I checked there there was a space in with the highlighted bit

Post by **Horus** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:59 pm

Nice close-up Grandad

I was doing the same as you only last week

I was feeding some Swans on a stretch of canal and trying to get some close ups of the Mallard ducks, here is an un-cropped one that I took of a Swan and another of a male Mallard duck. The Swan was not to keen on my dog being so close and even though he would not chase them, he still came in for a hiss and an attempted peck.

I called this one Donald

Post by **Kiya** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:10 pm

Great close ups from you folks

I might go walkies tomorrow & get some swan pics.

How do you know a female from male ??

Post by **FABlux** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:25 pm

Kiya wrote:Great close ups from you folks I might go walkies tomorrow & get some swan pics.

How do you know a female from male ??

I agree about the photo's and for the second part

Spoiler

the female lays the eggs

Sorry

Post by **Horus** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:19 am

@ Fran

Kiya wrote:

How do you know a female from male ??

Look at the bump just above the beak and just above the nostril holes, in a male the bump is more pronounced than the female. The Swans will almost certainly still be together as a pair so it is unlikely that you will see either two males or two females together. However if there are say five to six all white Swans together they may be a fully fledged brood just prior to separating, if that is the case you will still see a tendancy for the signets to follow the female as she swims, otherwise any grey looking Swans are this years signets.
Hope that you have a good days photography