Friday 26 February 2016

Guess who dropped in!

There's a small lake across the road from our house. (Americans would describe it as a pond.) Swans fly regularly overhead on their way to and from the lake and I love to see them and hear the sound of their wings slicing through the air. Until today we have never had a swan land in our garden. A friend was sitting on the sofa and she said, "a swan has just walked past the window!" We were discussing a surreal short story at the time but her statement seemed far more bizarre than the written story. We all got up to look and, sure enough, a swan was strolling about the garden.
It spent the whole morning with us, exploring the garden boundaries, presumably looking for a way out.
 
It didn't appear to be injured.
After several hours we became concerned that it didn't have enough space, a long enough runway, to be able to fly into the air. I looked up the telephone number for the RSPCA. It was the usual palaver, press one if the animal is stuck in a chimney, press two if.. and so on. I took another look in the garden while I waited to speak to a human
and the swan had gone.

8 comments:

  1. What a lovely little avian adventure. I live near a bird preserve and every now and then I see a crane strolling down the street. It is funny to see them out of their element.

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    1. Yes, that was the thing, out of it's element - and looking a very large specimen in the confines of our garden!

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  2. How lucky.
    He just stopped by for a rest a small snack before taking to the sky again.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. I think that he may have been a young male chased off the pond by a rival. The swans will be pairing now, ready for breeding. He looked very fine so I hope he will find a mate.

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  3. Hehe... same story I had with an owl on our balcony some years ago. After half an hour I called the rescue because I thought the owl was injured, but as soon as I had the guy on the phone, the owl flew away... as if it had known :o).
    Beautiful photos of a wonderful creature you've made. Love it. Have a great weekend!
    Alex

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  4. That's animals for you, so good at making us ridiculous! Wishing you a happy weekend, Alex.

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  5. How pretty. Lucky You to witness its visit.

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    1. It was rather surreal to see the a swan just passing by the window!

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