A Mother's Story: Passing time

A Mother's Story: Passing time

Mystery solved

I had an email from TK last night, which said that, rather than the cygnets being hunted by humans, the culprits were likely to be pike, which apparently are known to pull quite large birds under the surface of the water by their legs.
To quote Michael Caine, 'Not a lot of people know that!'
(Well, I didn't anyway.)

And on the canal

I was in Chester on Tuesday for supervision. My supervisor's place of practice is right on the bank of the canal and she and other occupants of the block take a great interest in the local birdlife. Through the spring and summer, they have watched this family of swans.
Now the cygnets have become 'teenagers' but unfortunately, there were six and, over the last few weeks, this has reduced to three. It's hard to believe that foxes have taken them at the size they are now so that leaves the possibility of them being captured by human predators, to be eaten. Not a pleasant thought and we are hoping that the three remaining juveniles will survive to reach adulthood.