It was a lovely bright and crisp morning, and reported as the coldest night of this winter. The ponds were frozen up but there was a small area in the long pond free from ice where all the birds were congregating, Swans, Tufted, Mallard and just on the side of the hole, out of shot, were 20 plus Teal, as we were leaving five Gadwall dropped in.
An update on the swans;- one of the regular walkers on Saturday, spotted the four cygnets on the fishing pond ( we noted all six there early in the morning), and both the parent birds were walking in the long grass, between the Airfield fence and the new one, towards the channel. ( it was where we found the carcass)
It could be that the pair decided to walk the path from the fishing pond to the long one but would not have realised that the new fence blocked the way, and on reaching it tried to navigate a way around and unfortunately once they moved off the path into the very rough ground, taking off to escape any predator, would be impossible.
Bob and Bri