Swanning about on Saturday

The swans are getting ready for Spring. We watched a pair of swans today and one of them spent a long time preening its' feathers and admiring its' reflection in the water. It was probably the male. In nature it is often the male which is more attractive, just think of peacocks, pheasants and mallard ducks. With swans of course you can't tell. It is said that they mate for life, and with the ones I observe it would seem to be so. Every Spring they choose a nesting place, the female then sits patiently there while the male swims around and brings provisions. All the unmarked swans on the River Thames in England belong to the Queen. Those that are marked receive a ring round their leg during the annual census of the swan population on stretches of the Thames in the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire called Swan Upping. Every year they are counted and the new ones have a gold ring put on them. This is called "Swan Upping", and is a lovely, colourful traditional event. Italian swans do not have gold rings on their legs, but they are just as charming and well cared for.

I have always loved swans. My school blazer had a badge with a swan on it. They are so graceful and peaceful to watch, gliding on the water. I don't like to get too near though, they have a bad reputation. Looking at the cygnets, it's easy to see how Hans Christian Anderson got the inspiration for "The Ugly Duckling." I'm sure many of us clung on to that hope as we struggled our way through adolescence with our National health specs and  gappy teeth.

I used to love the way my Mum sang Way down upon the Swanee River, it would send me off to sleep in no time. When I was small, obviously.

So here's to all the swans getting their nests ready, and looking forward to their new batch of cygnets, that come Summertime will be following them around like stroppy teenagers.