Thursday 21 May 2015

Cygnets & Ducklings

It is very challenging for an aquatic bird to raise young on the Ock.  In the water they face threats from otters, mink and pike, if they stray onto land they face predation from stoats, foxes and uncontrolled pet dogs and from the air there is the permanent threat of kestrels and buzzards

Yet despite these risks, a pair of swans have managed to raise three young cygnets.

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Swans normally have large broods of 8 to 10 cygnets, so this pair may have already lost a large a large proportion of theirs.
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Whilst it is unlikely that all three will survive, at least they have two attentive parents who will do their utmost to care and protect them, unlike this lonesome duckling.
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With no parents or siblings it has either been abandoned or it's relatives have been predated leaving it will very little chance of it surviving the night, yet alone to adulthood.

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