Thursday 3 May 2012

Sad News

Anyone living in, or reading blogs from, England will know that we've had a lot of rain lately. The wettest April for a hundred years I'm told. And since the first half of the month was fairly dry you can imagine what the rest of the month's been like! May has just continued the trend.


As I neared Grantchester Mill bridge I could see that the water-level was high and I feared the worst. Our swan's nest has been flooded by the rising river and the nest has been abandoned.


Just a few reeds and sticks remain to mark the spot. So no cygnets this summer for this pair. They've been so lucky to raise eleven young over the last two years.

Those of you with incredibly long and retentive memories may recall that last year I mentioned a swan living further downstream who was attacking rowing eights as they sped past. The swan, nicknamed Mr Asbo*, has got more aggressive each year until the decision was made to relocate him and his missus some 60 miles away You can read the story here if that's your kind of thing.

A pretty picture just to cheer you up:


Take care.

*for readers outside the UK I should explain that an Asbo is an 'Anti Social Behaviour Order '. This is a civil order served on those who behave in a loutish way where their offences do not warrant criminal action.

16 comments:

  1. Makes me wish I could take the rain and put it where people need it-instead of where they don't!

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    1. Sorry, Tipper, but we need that rain. Remarkably we have floods and a drought at the same time over here! Our water comes from an aquifer, a layer of porous rock that holds water like a sponge. The water held in that layer is at an all-time low because of a couple of dry years. This last rain has all come at once so is just running away down the rivers.

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  2. Yes, to http://www.blogger.com/profile/11714281090985487356 Tipper, we need it in the U.S. Strangest New England I have seen in 14 years. Drought in so many locations. Thanks for the rose.

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  3. A duck nested in a most unsuitable place on top of a wall by the side of the road in our village. She hatched off ten ducklings last week and by the endof the first day they had all gone. The beck was running very fast and I wonder if they were just washed downstream. Whatever the reason she spent the whole day walking up and down the road calling them.

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  4. A spoilt nest is such a sorry sight. We have floods here and rain, rain and more rain... Jane x

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  5. How sad that the swans have lost their nest, there must be many wild creatures who have lost both their homes and their lives during this wet spell. I know we need the rain but not all at once!

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  6. Natural selection at work? The smarter swans nest in higher ground? Perhpas not. Asbo - we have an over abundance of that here in the States. I'll have to remember that one.

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  7. I am sorry for your over abundance of rain and the bereft swans, but delighted to know there is a word for loutish behaviour that can be muttered at those who practice it.

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  8. I wonder if the swans will try for a late nesting elswhere--maybe that isn't something they do [?]
    If only the needed rain could be measured out instead of a deluge.

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  9. That's sad about the swans nest John I guess this happens more times than we know to water-bird life..

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  10. That is very sad indeed, poor swans. I guess many other water birds along the river banks may have lost their nests too it seems to be all or nothing with rain at the moment:)

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  11. Hi John, Sad to hear about your swan family. My brother in Lincs has told me about the rain. Sounds like a case of "It never rains but it pours". Bye for now Jane

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  12. Sorry to hear about the swans' nest. Would they try to build another one later? After our dry winter and spring, we are getting adequate rain. We'll see what the summer turns out to be like. Abso sounds like quite the character. I like the official response: relocate him, rather like being sent to Australia.

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  13. That is sad news. I can't believe you have received so much rain.

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  14. I've spent over a week now without hardly seeing the news - it's been a delight! I had noticed that there had been a pile of rain down south, but the weather can be cruel and drop it all on you so fast that it's rushed off to the sea before it can raise the level of resevoirs and all that. It's beginning to sound prolonged so I hope your drought is at an end you can start using hosepipes again.

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