A surprise garden visitor

As I just finished my breakfast a flash of brown swept down from above the conservatory towards the fence. I knew instantly that the blur was a Sparrowhawk after one of the many sparrows in the garden. I quickly leaped to my feet to see where it had gone, I couldnt see it flying off and assumed it had gone to ground next door perhaps with its catch.

I raced upstairs and saw that it was in fact perched on the fence. Turning I ran to the office to fetch my camera, of course it was downstairs with the wrong lens on. Luckily it was still present and I was able to snatch a few shots. It seemed very interested in the next doors garden and dropped down to the floor beneath a bush, perhaps it had knocked a bird down there? It was out of sight for a moment and then flew up and away.

VGY hatches 6 Cygnets

Today VGY and ATZ's cygnets hatched. 6 little bundles of fluff are now resting from the efforts of extracting themselves from their shells on the nest, whilst their proud father jealously patrols the water by them.

VGY is a female Mute Swan who I have known for 6 years. We first met in 2002 when she used to nest at the Saxon Mill. Her mate then was ZNY. Between 2002 and 2005 they raised 11 cygnets to adulthood.

Sadly in the winter of 2005/06 her partner ZNY was killed by a car. She returned to the winter herd in St Nicholas Park. There after a brief flirtation with AFO she paired with an Untagged Male. She took him back to the Saxon Mill where he built a nest for her. Unfortunatly the nest was too low down the mud bank and in heavy rains it was washed away. The following year - 2007 the pair were more successful and hatched 6 cygnets all of whom made it to adulthood. Severe flooding in the summer saw them move from the river to the Canal where VGY remained. In the course of the year the Untagged male disappeared and then on the 1st April 2008 VGY was seen sat on a nest on the canal with a new mate ATZ.