New swan on the block

We have been treated to a visitation by  the two younger Talpids. Here they are with the new metal swan that has been created by the village metal fabricator.

The extra photograph is of a black headed gull set against the blue waters of the river and the vivid green of seaweed. It looks pretty but it provides, I fear, another example of man trashing the environment. The green weed is Enteromorpha and it is growing in unnatural profusion because of the run-off of agricultural phosphate and nitrogen fertilisers into the river Ythan. The thick blankets of weed kill the mud invertebrates which provide the food of wading birds and fish.