an other garden no.26: nesting swan, gaol river by the cathedral

 Stories and Histories

This mute swan has made her nest on the Goal river, named so for the Gaol that sat on its banks from the early 19^th century until its closure in 1939. A mute swans nest is constructed from reed stems and other aquatic vegetation with the process taking between two and three weeks and is a joint effort between the male and female swans. Often a couple will return to the same nest year after year if its well situated, though younger couples can make the mistake of building in a less than suitable place which they learn from and improve on the following year. Laying the eggs can take a further two to three weeks, with breaks of one or two days between the laying of each egg. Between one and eleven eggs are laid looking blue or green at first, becoming white and then brown with staining. Next comes the incubation (siting on the eggs) and the eventual hatching takes place usually between five to six weeks,  at some time between May and July.

Not pictured but very present is the male partner guarding the nest from predators and angrily rushing and hissing at anyone who comes too close. ( He really did not like the sight of my dog Socrates. ) Mute swans often mate for life unless their partner is killed in which case they will quite often find a new mate. Should either male or female partner die during this period both are capable of raising the young on their own.