LIFE
Most swans hatch their cygnets in May, though there are some early birds that appear at the end of April. One particular pair that were being watched by us had had their original attempt wrecked by thugs after making a nest in a particularly vulnerable spot. It was with some surprise that they attempted again which I have rarely seen or heard of before.
With some effort a fence was erected and the result was obtained this last week when 4 new faces appeared.
water result!
DEATH
Swans that have attempted to nest at rattlechain lagoon over the years have predictably ended in disaster, to what we now know to be poisoning by white phosphorus.
This swan’s mate had died at the lagoon and was then chased off by the Rhodia boat squad. No doubt at some point in the future if vegetation is allowed to return around the edge of the lake, another attempt by a different pair- perhaps even those cygnets shown above will be made- but the test will be in the survival.
At the lagoon this week a dead lesser black backed gull appeared freshly dead on the causeway path- somehow I do not share the optimism of the phosphorus producing pygmalions about the newly sculpted success of the “remediation” of rattlechain lagoon.
Cause of death?