Venus Pool - Whooper Swan

Whilst one was seen over at Worlds End recently, it was nice to encounter a lone Whooper Swan on the Patch despite the gloomy weather! It had disappeared late morning but reappeared mid afternoon

Looking settled and preening...

With plenty of company and more yellow bills!

The water level is quite low, this was the middle of the pool!!

The closest pass...

At 3.15 it flew out over the fishing pool...

Always a pleasure to see Whoopers and I'm sure will cross my path in the New Year?

Venus Pool - Whoopers vs Cormorant!

 The pool was nice and peaceful with the Whooper Swans either sleeping, feeding or cruising around. It all came to a sudden end when a Cormorant thought it would be clever to peck a Whooper Swan's foot?!

Seen in close up...

I personally don't think it was a very good idea! Watch the reaction....

Lucky for the Cormorant he dived just in time!!

The whole sequence only lasted two or three seconds...

Venus Pool - Whooper Happy Families

 In amongst the fifteen Whooper Swans present today, there were two family groups, who kept themselves separate. Family one had just the one juvenile...

Despite one of the parents straying out of the frame, you could detect the strong family bond.

Even when feeding!

The family with two juveniles stuck together more but once again, one of the parents was camera shy, keeping out of the frame!

The symmetrical lines had to be broken...

In the late afternoon sunlight, just finishing off feeding!

Swan life isn't always calm and leisurely however, as you will see in the next post!

Venus Pool - Whooper Swans

October often springs a Swan surprise at VP and today saw five pristine Whooper Swans dropping in early afternoon! I never tire of them and always take too many images, even in the unhelpful light!!

They looked done in from the long flight!

And you have to look your best for the camera!

Time for another drink (that's all they seemed to do!)

Posing nicely...

Yet another drink?

And it was all too much for some of them!

They flew out heading north at sixish (while I was eating my tea!)

Melverley Floods - White-fronted Geese

The floods near Melverley / Edgerley were the place to be today although it was hard work at first! Numerous Pintail and Wigeon (occasionally taking flight) were on the flooded fields..

plus Shelduck, Teal, Greylag and Canada Geese. It all kicked off however just after midday when the flock of Russian White-fronted Geese decided to depart from the Alberbury side of the floods and arrived overhead calling... This is the complete flock of 57 geese...

It was another twenty minutes or so before they looked like settling and approached the floods I happened to be standing by...

Still not sure what to do, they took wide circles once more!

And then, the moment I had been hoping for - closer approach...

They started to break up into smaller groups..

Before coming down onto the water, sadly behind trees! Not that I was complaining, the views had been amazing!

Quite a panorama and despite the distance I still couldn't get them all in the frame!

After paddling about on the water for a while, they moved into the field and started feeding.

I'd only seen a single Whooper Swan up to this point but four more, including a juvenile wandered out from behind a hedge into the open!

I've had some brilliant moments at these floods but this was right up there for spectacle...

Melverley Floods - Whoopers etc!

Seem to be striking lucky lately and an afternoon in the Melverley Floods turned out well with Whooper Swans showing well albeit at distance! There were 23 visible (and maybe more nearby) including two family groups which flew in during the afternoon...

First things first, another new bird for the year - Tree Sparrow (here's 2) amongst the hedgerows, feeding with House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Yellowhammer...

Another Great White Egret too, this is one of TWO present. The second bird was only seen at great distance!

The best views of the Whooper Swans were during arrivals...

A bit of 'out of beat' synchro flight from parent with juv....

 And as this group finished their taxi to the far side of the water, a flash of yellow was in view!

More to come...