Caen Hill Locks

I had heard that Mo, one of the four cygnets living on Caen Hill Locks, had been hospitalized and wasn't expected to return to Caen Hill, so I wanted to find out more and photograph the three remaining cygnets, Eeny, Meenie and Miney, before they took off for ventures new.

As soon as I arrived at the top of the flight of locks I saw the two parent swans in the side pond below the café gliding elegantly and slowly across the water. The pen swan had flown away once the cygnets had begun to learn to fly, but had returned three weeks later.

When a Canal & River Trust volunteer went by on his quad bike, I hailed him and asked a few questions. It turned out that the cob swan had attacked Mo, thinking it was time for him to strike out on his own. The good news was that in the care of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Mo had recovered well and had now been relocated to his new home in Westminster. Whether this was on the Thames or, more probably at St James Park, overlooking Buckingham Palace, I don't know.

He told me that two of the cygnets had flown off for the day, but that the third, not yet able to fly, was on one of the lower ponds. I went off in search but didn't come across him, but I did discover this heron with some gulls a few ponds down. If I photograph a heron, it's pretty much a rule that it has to be blipped.

I crossed to the back of the side ponds and walked up the grassy path on the other side, and there I came across the other two cygnets, who hadn't flown off after all, but were grazing the grass beside the top pond.

9.10.2014 (2103 hr)

Blip #1393
Consecutive Blip #007
Day #1645
LOTD #628

Alternatives:
Hawthorn Berries
Grazing Cygnet
Cob And Pen Swans
Swan

A Visit To The Caen Hill Locks, 25 September 2014

Lens: Pentax 55-300 mm x1.4 rear converter (Blip), Pentax 17-70 mm,

Herons series
Caen Hill series
Canals series
Kennet and Avon Canal series

Backblip:
Wednesday 24 September 2014: Smokey 0916 hr (posted 9.10.14)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Johnny Marr - Easy Money (2014)