My brother Ryan shares a Swan blog

Today I've decided to let my brother post on my blog as I've been pretty busy keeping my eye on poachers and as it won't be long till the new life of Spring begins soon and the poachers crawl back under there rocks. I'm not sure if I mentioned my brother Ryan much in my posts over the years so here's a quick introduction to him. Ryan photographs wildlife like me but he mostly keeps an eye on the local Swans all year round. Although he doesn't feed them at the local swan gathering place as a local group does that but we won't mention them as there not the friendliest people in the world. My brother travels around the local areas from Cheshire, Staffordshire and North Wales to collect data from there BTO/ring leg tags which he sends to a local recorder. With this data he finds out how far the swans travel to find a mate, build a nest and spend there Winters. As well as recording this data my brother and sometimes I lend a hand to rescue Swans and other local wildlife that needs a helping hand and this week my brother had to help a local swan "Flash" who got trapped when being attacked by a pair of Swans that have a territory a few miles away.

Thank you for visiting and I'll leave you with Ryan while I put my feet up... 

Cheers Mike
 Stay safe and protect Nature where and whenever you can
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 A quick thank you to Mike for the introduction and allowing me to post on his blog and to all the readers I hope you like my blog posts as much as his and hopefully I could do a few more in the future if he lets me. While out checking the safety of the local wildlife I spotted 2 swans flying over( Male is Barbossa and the female is Elizabeth) and once they saw Flash our oldest local Swan the 2 of them landed and began to chase Flash. He got flash trapped in between the bank and canal boat, so I had to react quickly before he got crushed by the boat or drowned by the local pair. Once I got him out to safety I checked him over all was fine. Because of the pair on were still on the canal I relocated him to River that flows next to the canal so he could easily escape using the faster flowing water to escape if they decided to follow Flash as hes quite an OAS now(old age swan now being 18).

 RED-SWAN PAIRS MAIN AREA / BLUE-FLASHES AREA / YELLOW DISTANCE TRAVELED

I don't think this will be the last Battle to between Barbossa and Flash this year as they have a few months before they choose a nesting site and stay in that area, until then the pair will keep any swans from being on the edge of there territory.

Thank you

Ryan Mottram

Cygnet story

With Snow still AWOL the Cygnets ended up getting left behind and with Flash looking after all 7 he had his work cut out especially keeping them all together when moving from the canal to feed on the river and vice versa. Two Cygnets were left on the river and only one came back so I'm guessing the little one met it's end possibly by an Otter as the 2 left on the river slept on a sand bank where the Otter regularly visits for food and scent marking. So a few weeks ago we were down to 6 and more recently 2 have left Flash with 4 on the canal and 2 of the Characters Patch and droplet have decided to stay together on the river and together they should be fine now as there bigger and more tuned to there surroundings. 

So 2 Cygnets have been lost since they were little bundles of fluff so for a big family I think that's quite good as the remaining 6 are very close to leaving there parents as they are a little smaller than Flash other signs of this are there beaks are changing color from Grey to Yellow and they are gaining the feathers they need to take to the sky's. So far it's been an interesting and emotional story to watch unfold on such a common yet underrated bird. Just when you think Snows disappeared for good theres a twist in the tale and today were walking along the canal near Flashes territory we bumped into a female Mute Swan that matched Snows characteristics.  She had no leg rings, new white flight feathers and was confident yet hissy and she ended up heading slowly towards hers and Flashes territory so a possible reunion may be on the cards very soon, I will be checking on the area to see if this happens so expect more Swan updates as and when I get chance to see them.

Possibly Snow waiting for her favorite food Sugar puffs

Snow was very near Rhinos patch but he quickly chased her away without injury's and I will post about Rhinos unique Cygnet very soon as he's called Quasimodo due to an obvious difference.

Thanks for visiting

 Mike

Flash and the remaining 6 are all back altogether on the river awaiting Snows return

The disappearance of snow

After abit of research my thinking was that snow was moulting so she left to hide on the river as when swans moult they lose all flight feathers  which mean she would have been vulnerable and been a weakness to her Cygnets. So every few days we would take some food for her onto the river from Clover, lettuce and some bread to keep up strong. A few days later she had her wing draped in the water like an injury but a few days later she had the other wing in the water and the one that looked injured first was now in it's normal position. We were told Snow went back onto the canal then she disappeared and we have not seen her for a week now so whether shes back hiding on the river, deceased or moved on to find a new mate as I learned that Swans have divorces!?!?! so who knows where she is so all we can do is wait and see. The good thing is that she was definitely was not taken by any foreigners as they live in a busy part of the canal with people and boats moored up and down there stretch.  So Snows gone AWOL and now I shall get on with the Cygnets story as they too have had there adventures and losses due to many factors and I will post about them next time.

Thanks for visiting

 Mike

Flash & Snow the story continues...PT2

 As we walk up and down the canals photographing wildlife we bump into dog walkers and fisherman and they gave us the information we needed. A fisherman showed us a video of Flash stamping on top of the dead swans body as if to still be trying to drown the Swan and asserting his authority on his territory. That lead me to the theory of a Young Swan probably a 2 year old coming into there territory and being met by 2 adults defending there territory and there Cygnets so the yearling stood no chance. My theory was backed up when talking to a gentle man who I used to chat to when I had my boat moored up on the canal he said a battle broke out when another Swan came into the area and F & S chased the intruder away then possibly it was drowned by the pair due to it not leaving the area it may seem harsh but that's nature right on our doorstep. While they fought the intruder the 7 were left alone and after that I have no clue what happened and as we only found out this information a few days after but why had snow left the family and where was she.

Below is one of the art prints that I am working on this is called "Urban Flash"

  

After finishing work I took my dinner to check there usual grazing areas by the river and canal but just when I thought she must have died or been injured in the fight and being rescued by an RSPCA officer there was abit of hope. When I looked down from the canal aqueduct down onto the river Dane I could sight of Swan with no rings on it's legs and in good health. I dropped my dinner down onto the sandy bank where she sat and she ate it all "Cheese and Onion pasty plus iced buns" very good signs it could be her but I still could not be sure that it was Snow.

Later that day we popped back to get closer and on her level to see if she would come out of the water to us and she did.

 

She was nervous and hissy which is Snows normal attitude and no other Swan would be this confident on my local patch so 99.9% positive it was Snow. But this raised another question of why had she left Flash to raise the the magnificent 7 by himself and why was she hiding on the river?

 

More tomorrow on the tale of Flash, Snow and there possible DIVORCE

Thanks for visiting

 Mike

Flash & Snow the story continues...PT1

Having not posted about Flash, Snow and there 7 Cygnets for a few weeks there story has had more twists and turns than I expected as I thought this year they would have it easy but I was very wrong. If we go back to a few weeks ago and everything was calm before the storm and Flash, Snow and there 7 cygnets were sunbathing by the canal all fit and healthy.

One of the curious cygnets looking right down my lens

Flash enjoying his bread

All 7 Cygnets happy and healthy

All happy and content one day and a few days later the family was in chaos. While taking a walk by the canal after work to make sure my local patch was all in good order and to see if the Swans were okay but what we found was unexpected. We spotted a dead Swan with no leg ring and as it was on F & S patch I was very worried as Snow has no leg ring but flash does. So we quickly went looking for the family to see if Snow was okay. We found the family feeding just past the Swans body and there were 7 cygnets and Flash but no Snow!!! and Flash began swimming up and down the canal calling while the cygnets followed.

At first we thought 100% it was her but after checking the body we found that it was a younger Swan due to the feathers being more grey than white. I was so pleased that it was not Snow but it still left us with a few questions - What happened to this Swan? and more importantly wheres Snow? After abit of investigating all these questions were answered and will be explained in my next post.

To be continued....

Thanks for visiting

 Mike

Prints for sale-The Wildlife of Cheshire collection

Quick post today just to say I have been working on a Collection of 3 Wildlife subjects in 4 different A4 style prints 4 per subject and below is the first collection I am releasing due to spending so much time watching and protecting a local Swan family this year.

- The Swan collection -

Updates soon on my local Swan family's ever changing story plus prices for the prints above in various sizes.

Thanks for visiting

 Mike

www.Gowildlifewatching.co.uk
www.MikeMottram.co.uk

Death of a Cygnet

Since rescuing the Swans a few days ago I have been checking Flash, Snow and Cygnets are all safe and up to Friday they were and on Saturday evening we spotted the Lifeless body of a Cygnet or Gosling but we could not be sure but to confirm we decided on looking for the family to be 100%.
After a 10 minute walk we found the family and unfortunately there were only 7 so we have lost 1 cygnet and I don't know why the cygnet died whether to a predator or injured by a dog until I can find and check for any suspicious injuries on the Cygnet I won't know. Luckily saving the other 2 gave the family a better chance and if we had not had intervened then there would be only 5 instead of 7 but that's nature and sometimes there's things you can help with and other times you have to let Nature take it's coarse and as I can't be there 24/7 it was bound to happen due to there being so many dangers around them and the worst being man.
A few photographs from a kayaking trip before the family was down by one

Scratching that itch

Giving them some of my breakfast at sunrise it was a very peaceful 
and special moment as they kept coming over and tapping on my kayak like there mum and dad

 Thanks for visiting

 Mike

Swan rescue and a sweet reunion :-)

After work we decided on heading out for an afternoon walk on my local patch with my camera and while walking by the river we noticed 2 cygnets alone on the river. We could not see the other 6 cygnets or Flash and Snow so we headed off to see if the rest of the family were any where on the canal or further upriver. 
We found the rest of the family on the canal so I'm guessing the 2 on the river got left behind in the fast water or could not get up the high banks. 
As I have been filming and photographing Flash for a few years and he has given me so many great photographs and allowed me into his world so I decided to pay him back and try to reunite the family. We returned to the 2 on the river to try and push them into shallower water to try and catch them to return them to the canal but they were very alert and we struggled to get them. I decided to go home to get my net and kayak and when we arrived back at the river the pair were asleep on a shallow bank right on the rivers edge. 
I jumped into the river and crept up to them as I got closer they woke up so I netted them quickly so they would be caught together rather than be separated. As the adults don't go on the river more than once every few weeks so there would have been no chance of them reuniting so if I had not intervened either predation or flooding would have finished the pair so I felt I had to save them and reunite the pair with there family.

A few Photographs while waiting for the family to come to the pair

Flash comes to collect his missing cygnets from us on the canal

I have a video of the family reunited and as you'll see the Cygnets were happy to see there mum and siblings due to all there cheeping:
Happy to see them all safe this weekend having a feed at sunset :-)

Thanks for visiting

Mike