Saturday 28 April 2012

A walk between showers

Along the River Trent near Burston
 His bright yellow (instead of orange) beak caught my attention because the sun reflected on it!
 Really pretty - ? Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis)
Bright is our Molly - ok, how do I get through there then???

8 comments:

  1. According to my RSPB book that swan is either a Bewick or a Whooper(both have yellow beaks & look much the same in the pics!) not as common as the ubiquitous Mute swan, so lucky you :)

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  2. Looks like a whooper swan? Very unusual

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  3. She looks so confused!! Hope your all ok. I just love your pictures. xxx

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  4. Hi Both. It's a Bewick's swan, rather than the common or garden mute.
    That's why it's got a yellow beak without the sharp "stop".
    How's the blacking coming on? I was looking forward to seeing pics of George up to his armpits in gunk!
    Keep well

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  5. Our daft Spaniel, Jack, used to always do this, too. He never seemed to learn either. The swan's a Whooper, I'd say. They are the most common type up here, and make an amazing and apposite racket when in flight!

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    1. Thanks Iain - for readers who don't follow Poles Apart, Iain lives in Sweden (currently) but can also be found in Spain or Andalucia - lucky devil!

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  6. The swan is a Whooper Swan (Cygnus Cygnus) a winter visitor who should be heading home, to either Iceland (most likely) or the Russian arctic tundra, right now as they are supposed to start breeding there in May.

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  7. Thanks for all your comments re the swan - I remember that it was making a noise which made me look closer - there were two of them but they were with about 4 mute swans and seemed to be quite a coherent group!

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