 |
| You will usually see swans on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and I got quite pally with this family one summer. One late afternoon, returning from the office, I found the parents and their two young grooming themselves, and sat down besdie them to watch |
 |
| They make beautiful shapes while grooming, like fluid Hepworth sculptures |
 |
| Swans mate for life and have always been symbols of fidelity, but we have never observed them that closely - people used to be convinced that they ate fish, for example |
 |
| How can they do that? |
 |
| Proud parents |
 |
| Swan courtship is surely the loveliest in nature |
 |
| This pair spent a good hour paddling in partnership. . . |
 |
| . . .making gestures of devotion. . . |
 |
| . . .with occassional balletifc poses |
 |
| The pair would occasionally stop and do a sort of conjoined wheelie, making circular patterns in the water |
 |
| The family amid sparkles on the water |
 |
| I remember stopping to check my pannier to make sure I had remembered to bring something for an office meeting - something about the revision of the Complete Shakespeare it was - and this charming trio emerged from the mist round the bend. . . |
 |
| . . .I was reminded of Yeats' account of Gogarty promising the Liffey a pair of swans if he survived assassination. Whatever gods inhabit these canal waters, I'm sure they also love their swans |
 |
| A deserved rest |
No comments:
Post a Comment