Swan Update

Before Easter I had to have some emergency dental treatment,

I had toothache!

Yesterday I went to pay the bill.

I took my camera,

as I knew that before Easter they had this lovely little display outside the door.

I had taken my camera on an earlier visit, but the batteries had given up,

so I was hoping that it was still there.

It was!

On the way to the dentist

I stopped by to see how the swans are doing.

Obligingly she was rearranging her eggs when I arrived,

and I got a photo of them.

There's three at least.

They have their own little fan club.

This last photo shows one of the holiday cruise ships

that frequent the river.

Bernkastel seems to be one of their stops.

It's a lovely way to see the river.

I don't think the swan is very impressed with it though.

Enjoy your weekend.

Swanning Around

Here are the photos I was telling you about yesterday,

even though the post is dated for today.

I took so long between starting it and posting it.

The first photo is taken just down from the swimming baths.

It just gives a different perspective of the river to the one I usually photograph.

Also the path/cycle track runs right next to the river.

A downside if you're a bit wobbly on a bicycle maybe!

This set of 5 photos shows a swan that's made it's nest

in the car park of our local town, Bernkastel.

A temporary fence has been put up between the nest and the road.

It looks quite at home don't you think.

This next photo shows you how I am spending my time on the balcony,

now that I have run out of books to read.

Crocheting.

I've just added this last photo.

All the rest I uploaded earlier today.

It takes so long, that I go off to do something else.

So they've been sitting here since this morning.

This photo was taken a short while ago when Mike and I

visited Bernkastel for an early evening stroll around the town,

and an ice cream of course.

I will have to visit the swans regularly in the hope of seeing the eggs hatch.

Maybe I should do a weekly update.

What do you think?

Six swans eggs

Took a trip out today with a friend and en route stopped to look at this:


The swans nest is situated almost below the bridge that I walk across everyday whilst walking the dogs, (more about them another day). This picture was taken 28th April owing to the fact that I don't have a camera at the moment, Mike has it in Sweden. I took my grandson to see this nest last week and the swans were having a changeover. As one swan returned to the nest from down river the other swan vacated the nest. We counted 6 quite large eggs, pearly grey in colour. When recounting this tale to his mother, my grandson said "there were, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 eggs." He's only three and had to do the counting instead of just saying six. Not sure how long the incubation period is, but they've been sitting a while now. A mallard had a nest behind the swans but it seems to be vacated now, so I need to look out for the new family on the river.

After viewing the nests we visited a museum specifically to view some paintings, those of the Ashington group.http://www.ashingtongroup.co.uk/home.html Although I had seen the paintings some years earlier, Mike and I had gone with my friend to see the play back in the autumnhttp://www.wansbeck.gov.uk/index.cfm?page=viewsnews.cfm&id=454

Following on from the arts we went for an ice cream and a plodge in the north sea, only to find we couldn't see the sea for the fret http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/surfing/sites/pages/seafog.shtml.

This is how the beach should have looked!

It was windy too,

and cold.

But once back home we found that it was still warm and sunny, and we'd only travelled a few miles.