Sunday 28 October 2007

Leaving Home


In the previous item I talked about the family of swans at The Lawns, two mature swans and their five cygnets. Just over week ago I watched the parents practising flight with the young ones across the lake. A few days ago, as I made my way to an early appointment near the town centre I saw five swans fly overhead. It was a breath-taking sight to see in an urban setting and at the time I assumed they were wild swans coming in to over-winter. I was mistaken, however, they were as it turned out our very own Lawns cygnets, leaving home. I walked through the Lawns yesterday on another errand and there was Mum and Dad, alone. I stopped for a while with them and to me it seemed they looked rather forlorn - they had done their job for this year and the children had flown the nest.