........to find, during our walk by the seaside on Sunday, a pair of black swans in the sea at Titchfield Haven. I think they might have been mature cygnets as they were small compared with the white swans who were quite hostile towards them, hissing and sometimes pecking them. We had never seen black swans at the seaside before.
I find it a whole lot easier to photograph the detail in a black swan's feathers.
Nice capture, Hazel. Yes, black swans do seem a little smaller than the more common whites, more slender and in my opinion rather more graceful too. I have never seen them in the sea either, but they do seem quite happy on their occasional visits to the tidal rivers Deben and Stour.
Ah, that's interesting about the size so maybe they were swans rather than cygnets. It's just that a black swan at the zoo which I posted a couple of days ago seemed huge by comparison.
He;s not quite sure if he likes the taste of the salty sea water !! Nice detail in his feathers - the not so sleek neck/head feathers suggest a youngster to me !! Looking at his feet Hazel --it looks as if he is on a pedestal !
Ah, that's interesting about the size so maybe they were swans rather than cygnets. It's just that a black swan at the zoo which I posted a couple of days ago seemed huge by comparison.
Now that would have been a hazardous manoeuvre - especially if those white swans noticed!
I was standing on the path quite a way up from him and at that point the fence had run out - so I was being VERY careful, Beryl!
p.s. - yes his neck does look a bit 'fluffy'!
Maybe these had escaped (easy when you can fly!) from the bird reserve. We had only seen them at the zoo before.
At last, somebody else who has seen one!