As we left the car at Southsea today, I thought I saw a lady feeding swans at one end of the Canoe Lake. As we approached on our walk, it was obvious that she was feeding a group of seven swans by hand. We said hello and I asked if I could take photos. This was no problem for the 'swan lady' and I took a few shots, then of course wondering if she would participate in my strangers' project. Mary was quite happy with this too.
On the lake the swans eat weed, including very tiny prawns, and grass. Mary feeds them special swan pellets which have a fishy smell and contain molluscs. Her visits are now restricted to every 3 or 4 days rather than every day because of the increased cost of the pellets.
The swan peering over the back of the seat is named 'Youhoo', a bit of a character. Mary names each one and amazingly can tell one from another. She told us that this is her 'happy place' which began with a swan she called Charlie but who was unfortunately attacked by a dog.
I wondered if Mary has ever had any problems with the swans. She said 'never' and went on to say that she prefers swans to people. It's obvious that she knows how to treat them: an alpha male was once domineering but Mary stood up to him, however also affording him respect in the feeding queue.
Swans congregate at different ends of the Lake depending on the wind direction, peferring to fly into the wind rather than have it at their backs.
They spend good amounts of time preening and at this time of the year, will remove large feathers from their plumage, and in addition use their beaks to access a gland in their bodies which produces a substance to waterproof all their feathers.
Such an unexpected encounter as we had changed our minds about visiting a National Trust property and taken a late decision to go to the sea and have our breakfast. We said our goodbyes; I've sent Mary some photos and cannot help reflecting on the variety of passions we humans embrace.
I did comment to Mary that I liked the purple shade in her hair; she told me it should really be pink but that she bought the wrong dye............
https://flic.kr/p/2oPSLEp
What particularly amazed me was the calm nature of the swans, no fighting, just standing there patiently waiting to be fed.