Rowers and swans

It's not unusual to find rowing clubs and swans co-existing on a river. Rowers seem to want want deepish, clear water with a spot for a club house and boat store, in a location near the centre of a settlement. Swans (invariably mute swans) also like a location frequented by people because that is somewhere they can guarantee being fed! Of course conflicts can arise when the fast, sleek boats meet the slow, stately swans. But, with good will, they usually co-exist. One such location is the centre of the city of Worcester. These rowers stopped rowing and gently glided into the flock of swans that is usually found here. On the day I took this photograph the number of swans on this stretch of the River Severn was about four times the number seen in my shot.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Belligerent mute swans

This pair of mute swans appear to be the best of friends. However, they also both appear to be males (cobs) and prior to this piece of seemingly amicable side-by-side swimming they were noisily chasing and squaring up to each other. When swans place their wings in this arched, raised position and vigorously propel themselves through the water (called "busking") it is a sign of belligerence. I photographed the pair after setting the camera exposure at -0.7 EV. It was necessary to avoid overxposing the white feathers. It also produced the happy result of darkening the water and making the birds more prominent in the image.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

A River Wye convergence

Areas of the River Wye in Herefordshire are focal points for recreational activities. In recent months canoeists and paddle boarders have outnumbered the sleek craft of the rowing club at Ross on Wye, and the swans, ducks and riverside birds have had to get used to their fair weather companions. However, when I saw this convergence of a mute swan with four cygnets and the canoeists with his dog, I did wonder if the current amity was going to be broken. I foresaw the swan reacting forcefully to the threat it perceived in the dog and its owner as they got ever nearer. It was not to be, however, and with a few strokes of their webbed feet the birds moved away and the photographer/canoeist turned around and paddled off upstream.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Worcester's swans

A gathering of up to two hundred mute swans can be seen on the River Severn in Worcester between Worcester Bridge and the cathedral and this area has been designated a swan sanctuary where fishing is not allowed. Bags of specially prepared food are available for the birds in bags labelled The Swan Food Project (a local voluntary group). This is a necessity since the river at this location does not supply enough food for this number of swans. On the day of our visit black-headed gulls were helping to polish off the food thrown by visitors.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Britain's biggest wild bird?

The biggest wild bird found in the British Isles is not, as commonly thought, the mute swan. The bird with the biggest wing span is the sea eagle (over 8 feet - 244cm), the tallest is the common crane (100-130cm), and potentially the heaviest is the great bustard (up to 21kg). The latter is a large "game" bird that formerly flourished on downlands and parts of eastern England until it was shot to extinction in 1832. In recent years a re-introduced population sourced from European birds has been established on Salisbury Plain and there are hopes they can be established elsewhere. The mute swan is, however, the biggest commonly seen British wild bird. The swan in the photograph is an adult (four or more years old) and probably a male judging by the size of the "blackberry" on its beak. There are three kinds of swan regularly seen in Britain - the mute swan, the whooper swan and the Bewick's swan. Since my recent relocation to Herefordshire I have yet to see the latter two, but mute swans abound on the River Wye.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Swans and floods

The rainfall of October and November produced a few episodes of flooding of the rivers Wye and Severn. Thinking that the most recent flood would have subsided we went to Worcester for the day and found it otherwise. Water from the Severn blocked part of the car park that we used and when we set off to walk to the cathedral along the riverside path we soon found it was under water and impassable. The mute swans that congregate on the river seemed to pay the flood water no mind, and they simply extended their domain to the previously dry areas where people were happy to feed them.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

16:9 mute swan

An evening walk by the River Wye produced this photograph of a mute swan swimming upstream across the gold-tinted water. I aimed for a composition with the sun at the top left and the swan at the bottom right, and had an idea that an image with a 16:9 ratio would suit the shot best. When my pocket camera, many years ago now, was a Lumix LX3, I could quickly select this ratio with an on-body switch. On the Sony RX100 that task requires paging through the on-screen menu - something that in this instance would have meant missing the shot.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100