Cygnet rescued

 One of our cygnets with fishing tackle

Jack MacDonald called round this morning to say that a cygnet was in the lagoon looking very sorry for itself with fishing tackle dangling from its beak. Philippa had also noticed the cygnet and phoned  Peter & Addie who live close by but, as they were away, she called the Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton.  They immediately responded and Rhonda came by boat to Taggs Island to rescue the cygnet.  Armed with bread, wheat, a net and the all important swan hook we were hopeful that the cygnet would soon be caught, freed from the tackle and, hopefully released with only a loss of dignity.

 I'm not coming quietly

The cygnet had other ideas and, in spite of everyone's best efforts, managed to escape and fled from the lagoon.  Many thanks to Andy, who waded in and almost caught it, to Di who tried to head it off in a dinghy,  to Dave and Rhonda who were paddling the pontoon, to Nick who tried to block its escape with his kayak, to Denise who tried to stop its escape with a net and to everyone else who did their best, one way and another, to help out.

Di and Rhonda pull the cygnet into the boat

The cygnet led the rescuers a merry dance and seemed determined not to be caught.  I guessed that it might have headed for Duck Ait so I went to Peter & Sue's and we spotted the cygnet on the island with the rest of the family.  I called Dave to let him know (thank goodness for mobile phones) and Rhonda & Di came by rescue boat to the tiny island, joined by Dave in our boat and Nick in his kayak.  Poor Rhonda, who was already soaked from wading through the lagoon, cautiously approached the swans, picking her way through piles of guano, and almost managed to hook the cygnet but again it evaded her.  Once the swan family had taken to the river Di, Dave, Nick and several other kayakers who had joined in with the rescue, encircled the cygnet so that Rhonda was finally able to capture and lift the cygnet.

 How undignified!

Once aboard, Rhonda was able to disentangle swathes of fishing line and the hook from the cygnet and then checked it out for any other damage.  Fortunately, in spite of the hook and line and its obvious distress at being chased and womanhandled, the cygnet didn't need to be taken back to the Swan Sanctuary for treatment.

I'm off if I can just flap a bit harder

Free at last

There were smiles all round as Rhonda freed the cygnet and it headed straight back to its waiting family.  A job well done and congratulations to Rhonda especially and also to Di for her great boat handling.  The Swan Sanctuary at Shepperton is a Charity and I'm sure will welcome donations.  They not only rescue swans but also ducks and other waterfowl.  If you'd like to find out more then you can go to their website < http://www.theswansanctuary.org.uk>.

Gone Fishing

Young heron beside the pond

We have to give this youngster full marks for persistence. I've lost count of the number of times recently that I've seen him trying to catch the fish in my pond. Twice I've discovered him wading in the pond, he often stands poised at the edge of the pond ready to strike and, occasionally, he uses the roof as an observation post. He's not the least bit afraid of me and I can stand close by and watch his efforts after, that is, I've done my best to ensure that the fish are safe. We think he spends time on our walkway in the early morning too as there's a massive pool of 'poo' in the same spot most days.

Posing for the camera

On Friday he spent about 5 minutes strutting up and down the bog garden pretending to ignore the pond itself. At one point he showed interest in some fish in the shallows of the river and lunged at them. It's a privilege to be close to such a magnificent bird but I'd still prefer that he restricted his fishing forays to the banks of the River Thames!

Portion control

This grebe's eyes were bigger than its belly and, after futile attempts to swallow the fish, the grebe finally gave up. I'm surprised at the size of fish grebes and cormorants do manage to swallow but on this occasion the grebe lost out.

One of many attempts to swallow its catch

Female tufted duck with youngster

It's lovely to see baby tufted ducks and this female arrived with three fluffy youngsters yesterday. We think she had four a few days ago but has lost one. They're such fun to watch as they dive for the wheat we feed them and a joy to hear them chattering quietly to each other in mellifluous tones.

A tale mainly of mandarin ducks and grebes

Mandarin duck with her two youngsters

It's been a very good year for mandarin ducks. The two pictured above have grown up but we now have another mum with one junior. The pair spend most of the time relaxing on our deck under the table and chairs. The youngster is very fond of spiders and flies and does some of the outside 'housework' for me on a regular basis by cleaning up the spiders' webs.

Watch the baby grebes being fed while sitting on one of the parents' backs

New kids on the block

A family of four young grebes spent much of their time around here but there was a bit of a battle recently and the newcomers have taken over this stretch. They have three young babies and it's great to see them feeding and looking after their young. Dave watched as they had a 'shift' change yesterday. One of the parents shrugged the reluctant babies off its back and they were accepted by the other parent while the first grebe went off to fish.

While we were out in the boat yesterday evening we were upset to see what was probably one of the four older grebes lying dead by the weir stream. It was in the strangest position, resting on the beam of the weir stream, with its head leaning down towards the water.

Grebe with two youngsters on her back and one trailing behind

Baby grebes hitching a ride

Young heron checking out our pond

A young heron has been doing its best to catch the fish in our pond. I've seen it in the garden and, on one occasion I actually spotted it in the pond. The fish were traumatised for several weeks but have survived. Every so often, the heron comes back to try again and I do my best to deter it as there are plenty of fish in the river. Our fish are much more wary than they used to be though and we don't get to watch them swimming around and having fun like they used to. At least the mink hasn't checked out the pond for an easy snack.

The annual RHS Hampton Court Flower Show took place last week and below are a few images of the gardens and the floral displays.

Control the Uncontrollable

It's been quite a while since I've had time to write this blog and in the meantime our intrepid mallard HB is back in the hanging basket and well on her way to hatching about 8 eggs. Since the mink still passes by occasionally it's good to know she's safe where she is.

The dominant swan now has five large cygnets and the family drifts by daily for wheat treats. There was another pair of swans with several cygnets but the dominant male kept attacking the family and, in the end, all the cygnets were drowned and the parents driven off.

A pair of coots are nesting in the transom of a neighbour's boat and she hasn't been able to use the boat for a month! Luckily for her friends have taken her out or lent them their boats. She is now, vicariously, the proud 'mother' of at least one baby coot and a few more should hatch shortly.

There has been a massive increase in the number of Egyptian geese and the Canada geese population has also increased and is, some would say, far too large for this stretch of the river.

Upstream from us by Garrick's Ait we've noticed a family of four tufted ducks and a family of two red-crested pochards. Bidou, the black swan, is still single and this year we haven't seen any other black swans in the area for her to choose from.

Mink are back

Beautiful but deadly

Mink are back on the island and have been on a killing spree. Coots and ducklings have been taken by the stealthy predator and one islander's chickens were all attacked and killed. Fourteen years ago mink used the hold of our houseboat as a larder but I was sometimes able to rescue ducks from the mink's jaws before it had a chance to kill them. The mink had a habit of taking the ducks by their beaks and dragging them underwater when they came to feed. If I happened to see or hear the 'attack' I was sometimes able grab the duck by its legs and the mink would then release it. One of the three mink I used to see in those days was bold enough to regularly attack swans too!

Mink carrying off a fish

Four days ago I watched a mink swim across from the Molesey bank with a fish in its jaws. I guessed there must be a mink around as the swans and ducks were showing signs of distress and seemed extra alert to danger. When I went out to watch the mink it swam towards me but then headed towards the upstream end of the island. It sometimes runs along next door's deck and disappears into their hold and I recently spotted it running through my garden.

Male mandarin duck's favourite 'look out' post

A female mandarin duck with two youngsters started to use one of our riverside nesting boxes as a temporary nest for her ducklings during the day and sometimes at night. Last week a female with three youngsters appeared and another female mandarin kept trying to approach the ducklings. One of the ducklings seemed confused and appeared to want to be with the second female but the other mother kept driving her off. We never saw the mother with two again but suddenly there was a mother with three! We're wondering whether she 'kidnapped' the other duckling because it always seemed slightly apart from the family unit and was never able to keep up with mum and the other two youngsters. For several days the mother would turn up with two ducklings and then a third one would appear much later. We guessed that its chances weren't good and sure enough it hasn't been around for four days now. The crow was always swooping down on the youngsters and, of course, there's at least one mink on the hunt. At least the female mandarin is keeping a close watch over her two ducklings and they are getting quite feisty now and are chasing away other ducks away.

Baby grebe polishes off lunch

The great-crested grebe pair had two youngsters but one disappeared and, while we were away, the other one vanished. Fortunately I was able to take a few images of the parents with one of the babies. In the image (above) the baby is in the process of swallowing quite a large fish for its size.

Baby grebe hitching a ride on Mum's back

Baby grebe waiting for the other parent to provide lunch

Female woodpecker at feeding station

There must be two pairs of woodpeckers visiting the garden. The other day I watched a female feed from the nearby peanuts and then suddenly freeze. A male woodpecker flew onto my summerhouse roof and then over to the other peanut feeder without appearing to notice the female. She carefully shifted her position so as to remain hidden behind the feeder she was on while the male fed from the other feeding station. The female seemed scared to make a move in case she was spotted and only continued feeding after the male had flown off.

One of the woodpeckers has taken to drinking from our pond. It seems strange to see a woodpecker at ground level but this one manages to grip the stones at the edge of the pond and hang down over the pond to drink. It's fascinating to watch how the bird has found a safe way to satisfy its thirst.

Bidou flares her wings in a gesture of aggression at a mute swan

These lovely ducklings only lasted three days

The attrition rate for baby waterfowl (other than Canada geese) is very high again this year and, so far, the baby coots, grebes, moorhens, mallards and pochard ducks have all disappeared. Only the two mandarin ducklings are still around and yesterday I saw six newly hatched pochard ducklings but I wonder whether any will survive. The cygnets have fared better although at least one has vanished, either killed by a rower or taken by a predator.

Female blackbird with nesting material

Several weeks ago the blackbird visited the garden to gather nesting material. She loves grubbing around in the bog garden and also finds material for the nest from the edge of the pond. I took this image of her through my kitchen window.

Bath time for the blackbird

It was great fun to watch her bath every day. She would spend about three or four minutes splashing around in the shallow waters of the cascade. This was another grab shot through the kitchen window as I didn't want to disturb her.

The original six cygnets

HB's ducklings are launched . . . with a little help from Dave!

More territorial battles

The dominant swans are somewhat preoccupied while the pen (the female) sits on her eggs so the male is less active on this stretch of the river. His absence has allowed a variety of non-breeding swans to venture into his territory and, when he does catch them out, he does his best to see them off but with a little less determination than previously.

Another day another chase!

HB gasps in the untypical heat of April

It's been so hot and sunny here this month (hotter than many destinations in southern Europe) and HB has been suffering from lack of moisture as she sits all day on her nest. She seemed so distressed recently that we sprayed her with very fine water droplets to cool her slightly and provide her with some moisture.

The ducklings appear

HB was getting very restless last Wednesday evening and we noticed that she was sitting very high in her nest so we guessed the ducklings were hatching. Sure enough we could just make out a couple through the base of the nest and hear their tiny high-pitched calls.

Seven ducklings wait for mum's invitation to jump!

HB was driven off her nest at around 9.30am on Maundy Thursday and was attacked by at least 5 rogue males. We managed to rescue her/chase off her attackers from the middle of the river but she kept being chased and had to fly off for a while. This gave us the opportunity to check on the ducklings which remained calm in their nest.

After a while she was able to return to the nest and spent the best part of 30 minutes preening her feathers and settling down again. She waited until all the males had grown bored and given up waiting for her to come off the nest again and then she sneaked off and called for her ducklings to follow. Unfortunately they seemed reluctant to leave the safety of the nest and she became frantic so Dave lifted down the hanging basket and helped to launch the ducklings.

Proud mum swims off with her seven

Surprisingly, after the morning's difficulties, the randy males left her and the ducklings alone and she was able to join up with her partner and spend a leisurely day swimming around in the area close to us. The next morning she still had seven ducklings and we were hopeful that she might keep at least two or three alive from this batch but it wasn't to be. The following day there were none. We can only assume that they were taken by either pike, heron, a herring gull, a crow or the mink. So far we've seen 21 ducklings and none have survived.

On the subject of the mink, it's been spotted all around the island and Gareth has just called round to say that he and Dan had just seen it. Yesterday we saw it running along Inca's deck before disappearing into their 'hold' again.

Double tulip

I bought some spring bulbs for the garden and had forgotten what varieties I'd planted so I was pleasantly surprised by these soft pink double tulips. The garden looked particularly lovely while they were in flower.

Smudge shows his 'good' side for the camera

We've been visited by an aberrant blue tit for weeks now whose face is normal on one side and disfigured on the other. He also has a large expanse of black feathers on his stomach which should be all yellow. I think he must be blind on the disfigured side because of the strange way in which he feeds.

Smudge's strange disfigurement

What surprised us was how well he seemed to be able to defend himself against other blue tits as we thought he would soon fall prey to more dominant birds. He must have been with us for at least 2 months but I haven't seen him around of late. I have, however, seen a neighbour's cat hiding under our acer tree by the pond on a regular basis!

Mrs. Mandy waits her turn for supper

We must have at least 5 pairs of mandarin ducks and a few spare males calling for supper each day! On this particular occasion two males escorted her and perched on the top deck railings with her. Eventually one got bored with waiting and dozed off in one of my plant troughs instead.

Two pairs of red-crested pochards also drop by every evening. They don't get on at all well with the mandarin ducks. Last night I was upset to see that one of the female pochards had a badly injured leg. I don't know if it was broken but she couldn't stand upright on the plank. She did, however, manage to put up a good fight when a mallard tried to 'share' her food. I'm hoping it was only a bad strain and that she'll be a bit better this evening.

Nature . . . red in tooth and claw

Intruders beware!

Our dominant mute swans are nesting in the lagoon and the male is showing no mercy to any intruders in his territory. Pictured above is a fight downstream last week and today we nearly had to rescue a swan that the dominant male was trying to drown. It was too weak to fly away and attempted, instead, to climb out onto the bank but it got stuck between some shrubs with part of its body still vulnerable and the other swan tried to drag it back into the river. We had just set off in our boat to rescue it when it made one final effort to free itself and managed to crawl onto the towpath. Meanwhile, another mute swan was swimming downstream and distracted the male which turned his attention to the other intruder. We watched as the exhausted swan on the towpath waddled as far away from the river as it could, flopping down in the grass for regular rests. We were worried that it would be attacked by a dog but it managed about an hour's rest before the dominant swan decided to hunt it down on land. As soon as the beaten swan saw the aggressor approach at speed it tried to run then thought better of it and finally managed to take off and escape. So determined was the dominant mute to see off its rival that after returning to the river it flew back onto the towpath half an hour later to make sure that its rival had really gone.

Bidou's sanctuary

Bidou, meanwhile, continues to make herself scarce and is often to be found at the far end of Platts Eyot. Yesterday evening we saw her with a young mute swan so it would seem that she continues to favour mute swans over her own Ozzie kind! She occasionally sneaks down here for some wheat but is instantly chased away by the dominant mute if he's around.

Garricks Ait in the early evening

The weather has been lovely recently and we've enjoyed a few boat trips, partly to see what Bidou is up to. The river is particularly attractive towards the end of the day when the light is low and golden.

HB is back!

Madam is back again this year in her favourite spot, a hanging basket right outside our patio doors. She appeared on the deck last week and kept looking at me and then up to the spot where her previous nest, a hanging basket, had been. We'd removed it for the winter but she left me in no doubt as to her wishes. Dave thought I was imagining it but when I gave in and hung up a basket she flew straight into it. Unfortunately I hadn't been able to find her old basket and the replacement one was rather small. She soon poked her beak through its lining too, so Dave repaired it for her but she didn't think much of the substitute lining and ripped it out. She was also having a problem with the basket's small size and I realized that it would never accommodate both her and 12 - 14 eggs. She was showing signs of desperation so I searched around for a larger, more stable hanging basket and, within two minutes of putting that one in place for her she had taken up residence. Two hours later she had produced her first egg.

HB settles in

It's a very safe place to nest because neither the fox nor the mink can reach her and she's partly under cover from the house which means that magpies and crows can't steal her eggs. We have to walk past her every time we want to use our day boat but she has obviously got used to us now since she hardly bothers to look up when we pass under her nest.

Sunset over Hurst Park

A couple of weeks ago we had some colourful sunsets. The sky looks so lovely through the bare branches of the trees. Now that the clocks have been moved forward the days are longer and the sunsets gradually move round towards the other side of the island by mid June.

Magnificent Magnolia

The tree outside our garden has grown so much over the years and it blooms at least twice most years though the second display of flowers is never as stunning.

Black Cap . . . with a red head!

We've had a pair of Black Caps in the garden since February but the male, which does have a black cap, has disappeared, probably caught by one of the many island cats. The female, pictured above, spends most of her time in the garden but is on her own now so she probably won't breed this year. Much as I love cats I resent the harm they do to so many garden birds. On the subject of predators, however, the most lethal one on four legs is back on Taggs Island. The vicious North American mink has been spotted at both ends of the island and I've seen him at close quarters twice now in the past few days, running from next door's garden through ours and making his way towards the upstream end of the island. It's very bad news for most water birds.