The Lightship Family II

Each time the pen rose of her nest to turn her eggs it became clear that two of the eggs were showing signs of cracking, the little fluff of flesh inside was beginning to peck its way out.

Then the cob came into join his partner.

It then became clear that the shell had cracked open in half and the signet was looking to make entry into the world and the beak of the adult swan was there assist.

........ it was hard to imagine what was emerging could have life in it, but the parents beak persisted in helping the little life form to make its entry ...

She had to reposition herself and gradually the life form took on more form .... is that a head that can be seen there emerging?

Even the first born appears to give a helping nudge with his beak!

At one point the cob with his feathers all puffed out raised his neck and made a short sharp snort of approval. Mute swans rarely made a sound but that snort certainly was a sign of his affection and approval of what was going on!!

Once the new signet had emerged from the egg she once more sat on her eggs and placed her wing over her new addition to offer it warmth and shelter from its new world.

This was quickly followed by similar maneuvering of the beak to release the second egg that had shown signs if an emerging life. Once released she once again sat back down on her nest and both parents tried to pull in soft materials to reinforce their nest for their new born.

It had been amazing to watch this, but I think what had been most striking for me about the whole process was the intimacy and closeness of both parent swans as they welcomed their new brood into their company.

The lightship family part I

Right in the heart of Cardiff Bay can be found the lightship and beneath the bow of the ship on a makeshift pallet a pair of swans have nested for a number of years.

Some facts 2010:

Jim who passes the site on a daily basis informed me that he had first photographed 3 eggs on the nest on the 10th April.

There had been total of 11 eggs at one stage, at the beginning of the week there were 8 eggs, but one egg had disintegrated and another had been removed from the nest, as shown in the painting above, on Wednesday 19th May.

Does anyone know if this is a common practise of swans to disregard an egg and why it is done?

Saturday 24th May ... late afternoon the second half of Cardiff Bluebirds play off match at Wembley was underway

I arrived to find quite a crowd of all ages looking down at the swans on this hot afternoon. I soon established that under her wing was a signet, that had recently hatched.

Sure enough as she lifted herself to turn the eggs something she will have done on a regular basis over the last month ... clearly to all to view was the very young signet ... what a nice day to leave the egg ... with the afternoon sun beating down to welcome the new addition.

As the proud mother tended her new addition she pushed the shell away!

The next time she rose and twisted her neck to carefully turn the eggs with her beak it also became clear that a further two eggs were displaying cracks ... and all looked on anticipating how long it would be be before that there would be some potential new additions?

That was the question .... how long would it be before these two young swan would be released from their shells of protection ... and still further would she see all six eggs spring into bundles of new life?

That question I hope to answer in forthcoming posting!

The Countdown is On!

Monday 17th May: This picture was taken tonight on a warm sunny evening at Roath Park.

How many Gossling are in the photo?

Having reported the siting of the first Signets I have spotted in Cardiff yesterday at Cardiff Bay, the countdown is now on to see how successful our swans are this year.

Once the eggs are laid, incubation for a swan is round about 36 days .... for many of the nests I have been observing the eggs should hatch in the next week or so! Stay Tuned!

Swans like most birds show much patience, sitting on their eggs and turning the eggs at regular intervals .... soon the waiting will be over.

Of all the wetland birds the swan seems to be one of the last to hatch their eggs. My first inspirations lie with painting and capturing swans with their signets so despite all the other birds my first love is with the swan and I look forward with excitment to see how many of the various eggs that birds have been incubating over the last month or so will hatch.

Nest Building & Deserting - inter-species rivalry?

Bank rivalry between Coots and the Great Crested Grebe

Over a period of weeks now I have been observing the action of coots and grebes at a number of wetland locations in the Cardiff area.

The behaviour has been intriguing.

Grebe pairs have gone so far as to make their floating nest and in some cases laid up to two eggs. On EACH OCCASION, on returning a few days later the nest has been deserted and in some cases obviously taken over by a Coot pair.

Then in some cases it appeared that nests have been abandoned even with a remaining egg.

On one occasion there appeared to be a number of nests that had been abandoned in this manner.

To the point that even a duck was able to scramble over the nest - egg as well!

It seems very labour consuming to continue building nesting sites in this manner, lay egg(s) only to then abandon the project. Or is there another answer to it?

Earlier this week it was interesting to see one pair of Grebes sizing up a patch of floating weed suggesting that they might be looking for another site. Returning yesterday it was pleasing to see that the Grebes once again had made this their nesting site, were incubating another egg and were CO-existing with the neighbouring coots, a the painting below shows.

A pair of Grebes and Coots nest close by to one another, After having seen the Grebes at a number of sites like this, one is left wondering if this nest will succeed?

A second pair of Grebes were spotted sizing up an area of reed, but it was not long before they were under attack from a Coot.

The Coot attack.

It was not long before the coot was returning to maintain his claim to the territory.

One is left wondering why the Grebe does not stand up to its the rival the coot more often?

Swan News

I made this quick sketch to record spotting the first signets of the season, at the Wetlands in Cardiff Bay.

Spot the Swan nests!!

Swans in Cardiff Bay

Nesting time .. creative Competition!

Some observations on Migration and building Nest .... Competition for Space!








My support work introduced me to a new area of water in March ... that of Atlantic Wharf an area of water that formally formed part of the Cardiff docks but now forms an inland water flanked by housing and offices on three sides and backed by the steel works and a trunk road on the other.

I was amazed to find a pair of swans nesting on this water way back in March a good month earlier than swans that ii have followed on Roath lake in previous years.

I was led to create the above impression on a very cold day at the end of March when the wind was bracing and certainly in South Wales we experienced hail and snow showers. It was very comforting to realise that the swifts had arrived and were flying on the wind above the water in pursuit of insects. It gave hope that eventually warmer weather would come too and that the swifts were here despite the cold!!

There are many other wetland birds on the wharf ... how many can you spot? It makes an interesting comparison to Roath Lake and one is left wondering if the pair of swans were nesting early as there was no competition for territories and nesting spots?



Competition observations on Roath Lake

Some of the earliest birds to nest round the circumference of the lake are the Coots who seem to build nests out on every possible piece of sheltered water and even in this case have built their nest up the bank on the islands.








This is not the usual spot for coots normally forming nests in the water formed of twigs and undergrowth. This move to a bank location one can only assume has come about as a result of the competition of nesting sites and the relative safety the island location offers to predators.




Swan Action




In recent years it has been remarkable to see some of the creative attempts that Mute Swans in Roath Park have made to secure nesting sites within the park.

I photographed a pair of swans in March 2009 taking a particular interest in a patch of daffodils in the park close to the lake

At the end of April 2010 I was amazed to discover a pair of swans had built a nest from the remains of the daffodil heads.



The swans must have actually broken off the stems to create their nest captured in my painting impression below.











The pair were still successfully sitting on their two eggs as I write this.




It has to be said that there is any number of other sites that have not been so successful!









Could this be young couples (3-4 years old)




making their first inroads at nesting and breeding?



The nesting site on the right has been attempted in both the last two seasons. In 2009 a egg was even laid before the nest was abandoned.

It can only be hoped that the nesting pair among the daffodils will see success!

Has anyone else seen this sort of behaviour among possibly juvenile swans possibly experimenting at breeding?











It is also amazing to realise that our own favourite birds are sharing their waters with birds that still have to migrate. It is not often that a tufted duck is seen on the bank , could it have been saving energy as it contemplates flying to its probable destination in Eastern Europe?



The Icelandic Volcanic Ash Cloud





The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust do much work tracking the movements of both the Bewick Swan which migrates NE to Northern Russia to breed.
while the Whopper Swan flies NW to Iceland.
News on the WWT website at least one of the Whopper Swans with a tracking device had lost its signal as the Volcanic ash swept across our upper atmosphere affecting our airspace and air travel.

Pictured the map on the WWT website that can be followed to see the progress of the migrating Whopper Swan.