Tales from the riverbank
Jun. 28th, 2018 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustCrossing the footbridge to the swimming pool yesterday, I looked down at the mudbank which the swans and the geese have divided between them. The geese were all there, but at the near end, in swan territory, stood a grey heron.
I want to write 'the' grey heron, but really don't know whether this is the same heron we used to see frequently, on the far side of the river, but haven't seen at all this year.
Crossing back after swimming, I saw that the heron had gone but the swans were both present; and between them, where the eggs had been, were four pale grey and white fluffy cygnets. They looked too small, and too clean, to have been anywhere near the water, but is it possible that the parents could have gone off and left them (even with a heron baby sitter)? And that I could have been so distracted by the heron that I just didn't see them? (Oh, well, that latter one, yes, it's possible.)
They were not in the least ugly ducklings.
I want to write 'the' grey heron, but really don't know whether this is the same heron we used to see frequently, on the far side of the river, but haven't seen at all this year.
Crossing back after swimming, I saw that the heron had gone but the swans were both present; and between them, where the eggs had been, were four pale grey and white fluffy cygnets. They looked too small, and too clean, to have been anywhere near the water, but is it possible that the parents could have gone off and left them (even with a heron baby sitter)? And that I could have been so distracted by the heron that I just didn't see them? (Oh, well, that latter one, yes, it's possible.)
They were not in the least ugly ducklings.
