The death of Flash :-(

Today I thought I would post about one of  my local patches characters and in this instance its Flash one of the local Mute Swans who had a territory here for over 16+ years. We last saw him in February this year when he was fighting with a new pair of swans. On the 11th February my brother separated them and put Flash in a safe place on the river away from the danger of the attacking pair. After that he disappeared and since then we had no clue where he was. Last week we got an email saying he was reported dead at Middlewich on February 14th 2016. He was a wonderful swan sometimes grumpy but yet very calm and intelligent. He will be sadly missed..........
Below is a video I made about the life of Flash

As a wild bird he did his job protecting his mates & cygnets over the years. I shall miss him swimming along side me in my kayak as the sunrises on a warm summer morning along the canal.

I took this photograph in the beginning of 2002 when he had one of his first brood of cygnets

One of his last broods a few years ago..

He was quite a poser

Flash at his main nest site which he held for many years without fail

Flash by the big lock pub

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

Kayaking with the Swans

As it's that time of year again when the weather warms up and the breeding season begins. I have started working with a new pair of Swans as it seems Flash is having a year of breeding this year. The new male is Barbossa but the female is Flashes old mate Snow. At the minute the pair keep coming and going like the Great Crested Grebes and don't seem to be settling. Both of them have built nests and haven't seemed to want to lay yet probably due to the sudden return of the cold weather. Last year Flash and Snow were very confident and would come up to my kayak straight away and pose for photos and showed no aggression to me.

Before work the other morning I decided on going on my first photo shoot with the new pair up. The new partnership seems be a little of the opposite with them both keeping there distance and showing no aggression to me or the Geese on the lake.

As the sun rose on the dark black sky the water sparkled around him

A lovely close up of Barbossa as he takes some of the floating food mix I brought them 

After checking on the Swans health and having abit of bonding time with them to get them to accept my kayak and allow me to film them up close. I also wanted to check up and photograph a Canada Goose that had nested in the Swans old spot.

Photographed from the bank at the lake

She seemed happy on her throne of reeds which the Swans started building and she took when they left the lake for a few days and for some reason the Swans have not pushed her off. I took a few photographs of her then I left her in peace. I will hopefully try and check on them all every week but as there's so much to film at this time of year I'm not sure if I'll have much time.

It looks like she smiling as I spun my kayak around to get a clear photograph

A view of the lake when the sunrises on a cold Spring morning as the mist is burned away

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

Nesting Swans at last

On one of my local canals a pair of Swans have finally started to nest and now they are incubating there eggs. Hopefully we will have Cygnets on the water soon if there is now predation by Mammal or bird. Luckily the nest is at a farm along the canal and as they always nest here every year there always successful and are pretty safe.

Enjoying the sun

A photograph of the Male Swan guarding his mate on her nest

 Updates on this family and Snow and Barbossa coming soon.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

Filming Geese in the Spring....

In early Spring I setup my Time lapse camera on a Canada Goose nest. I have been working with this pair in my kayak and gaining there trust until they let me near there nest to place my camera and film a few hours at sunrise of there comings and goings. Plus you'll see Flash my local male Mute Swan who nested very close to the Goose nest as did a pair of Great Crested Grebes.

More information about Flash Diaries of a Cheshire wildlife watcher - Episode 1- The Tale of Flash Part 1  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhhVXpKOldo

Thank you

Mike