cygnets – derrickjknight

Elegant Cygnets

Early this morning we visited Elizabeth’s home to bid farewell to Louisa, Jessica, and Imogen as they set off back to their home in Mapperley. This was a brief stop, after which we took a forest drive.

Initially overcast and threatening rain, the skies brightened and the sun emerged to cast long shadows during the last hour before lunch.

As Louisa sped away with her two elegant cygnets, the pair of swans and their still dependent grown family fished and reflected in the rippling shallows of their adopted tidal river at Beaulieu.

Some preened;

some dived;

all dripped droplets as they surfaced and craned their sinuous necks.

On the verges of the of the road beside the water ponies grazed

and inconvenienced passing traffic.

Becky joined us this evening for dinner, which consisted of Mr Pink’s fish and chips with pickled onions and gherkins. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Piddle.

Our daughter is staying overnight and will drive Dillon to Heathrow tomorrow because he has business to attend to in America.

Natural Elegance Element

On the near bank of a narrow inlet in Beaulieu River during an afternoon forest drive we noticed a pair of swans with their well grown cygnets

basking

and preening in the warm sunshine.

Soon they rose awkwardly to their feet,

stretched their wings,

waddled to the edge,

slipped into the water, their natural elegance element,

and trailed across the river

where food and drink were to be found.

While I focussed on these birds, Jackie photographed a distant heron.

This evening we dined on baked gammon; smooth cheese and mustard sauce, creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots; and tender cabbage, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Bordeaux.

Parched

Early this morning, after she had shopped and Tesco and we had unloaded her purchases, Jackie drove me to Wessex Photography in Lymington where I bought more printing paper; and further on into the forest.

Although grasses were well-watered beside Hatchet Pond

the surrounding moorland was drying up. It was hot enough for us two days ago, and therefore not surprising that areas 10 degrees C hotter elsewhere in the country suffered numerous grass fires that spread to destroy neighbouring homes. We considered ourselves fortunate that the New Forest remained unscathed.

Waterlily tapestries adorned the pond, and beneath the sheltering

lakeside silver birch

cygnets originally seen in May and posted in https://derrickjknight.com/2022/05/27/a-hanging-out-nest/ have now caught up with their mother.

While wandering around Hatchet Pond, I met and enjoyed wide-ranging conversation with friendly Australian Justin and Spaniard Natalia, on holiday from their home in Andorra, who were happy to be photographed with their boys and dog before Jackie called to tell me that the cygnets were back.

Already, soon after 10 a.m. ponies at East End were lining up in what shade they could find in order to escape the oppressive heat and the myriad of flies that could either be momentarily shooed off with twitching tails, rubbing noses against legs, or simply stoically tolerated. The last of the trio looks as if she may have found a mud bath at some point.

There are usually a few ponies cropping this parched patch which would now be like breakfasting on burnt toast. Perhaps it is the residents of No. 1 Sowley Lane, opposite who have filled these containers of water for the animals who have slaked their thirst and moved on to seek greener grass.

This afternoon I dozed over ‘The Moonstone’.

This evening we dined on roast duck, fried and boiled potatoes, fried onions, and firm carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, with meaty giblet generated gravy. Jackie drank Hoegaarden; Flo, Robinson’s mixed fruit cordial; and I, more of the Cabernet Sauvignon.

A Hanging Out Nest

Jackie spent a hot, sunny, cloudless morning continuing her planting while I dead-headed poppies and roses and pulled up a few weeds.

Flo joined us on a trip this afternoon beginning with a visit to Otter Nurseries for more plants, and continuing into the forest.

Foxgloves lined the verges along Warborne Lane where a burrow probably housed the rabbits which kept popping up along the way.

We visited the Hatchet Moor section of Hatchet Pond, where Flo and I both photographed each other photographing donkeys and foals. Individual authorship is, as usual, detailed in the galleries (mine don’t bear my name). This is also true of the next ones, including

cattle and calves;

water lilies, one bearing a damselfly;

mallards, swans and cygnets hanging out on a makeshift temporary nest.

Flo added foxgloves in the landscape;

also an oyster catcher while I pictured a black headed gull.

Finally, at East Boldre I focussed on a fly-tolerant pony with her sleeping offspring.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s savoury rice, with prawn preparations – tempura and hot and spicy – and gyoza, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

Windblown Flames

After a full day of tidying and clearing we took a quick trip to catch the sunset at Mudeford.

Jackie managed to transport a carpet upstairs, one step and a time; we then moved a computing desk from the days when the devices all had towers downstairs to extend the long wooden desk I bought 34 years ago from the previous owner when I bought Lindum House. This enabled me to arrange iMac, scanner, and printer in a less cluttered manner, prompting me to tidy out the drawers on the basis that if anything inside them related to equipment I no longer used it was binned. I also continued disposing of ancient paperwork.

We drove though a dramatic shower and a range of moody skies which, by the time we reached our goal were quietly smouldering until

the flickering flames of a bonfire blew across the skies.

A stately cavalcade of swans and cygnets sailed past a row of mallards

A woman pushing a pram, and perching gulls provided picturesque silhouettes.

A dashing dog scattered other birds.

On our return, I published https://derrickjknight.com/2021/11/26/a-knights-tale-70-earning-the-gratitude-of-neighbours/

Later, we dined on Jackie’s wholesome winter stewp with fresh crusty rolls with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.

Photographing Forest Fauna

From late morning Jackie drove our visitors and me around the forest. De had walked down to the coast at Milford where we joined her.

Jan photographed De seated beneath an umbrella, where their daughter was joined first by her father and then by her mother.

Choppy waves threw up creamy spray before sliding up and slipping back down the crunching shingle beach.

The trio walked along the clifftop promenade and down the steps toe the sea level.

Pannage pigs at Pilley snuffled and snorted their way around the verges.

We stopped for a drink at the Fleur de Lys, to find that it had been under new management for just a week. This prompted us to book a table for this evening.

Jan photographed and conversed with donkeys beside Beaulieu Lake, the banks of which

a preening swan and cygnets shared with gulls,

while one of the young swans reflected on the surface over which a crow took to the air.

At East Boldre we stepped out to photograph ponies casting shadows as the sun emerged.

This evening’s meal at the Fleur de Lys was excellent. We shared starters of Thai Fish Cakes and Belly of Pork; Jackie and I enjoyed Burger mains; I am not sure what the others chose; we all finished with sticky toffee pudding. We shared a bottle of Pinot Grigio and a Mendoza Argentine Malbec. I completed the meal with a Bailey’s, Jackie abstained and the others drank varieties of gin.

The Sound Of Tearing Grass

Humid, leaden, weather continued today, although there was no threat of rain. After a dozy morning I attempted to join Jackie in the garden. I bagged up one set of refuse before realising that this was far too optimistic following the night that had just sapped my energy. The Head Gardener finished her planting, then metamorphosed into my Chauffeuse and drove me into the forest.

We began with our photo report on Pilley Lake which the recent rains have filled a little. The second image shows that foxgloves and brambles still fill the foreground;

sections of road barriers suggest recent works of some sort; and the little pool that had been bone dry a couple of weeks ago now reflects Quarry Cottage on the corner.

The Hatchet Moor section of Hatchet Pond was populated by a pair of swans and their cygnets who circled the surface, weaving through the prolific water lily beds. The last of the avian pictures with lilies was produced by Jackie. We were not the only photographers on an outing.

The only sound in evidence on such a still day was the ponies’ teeth tearing at the grass at East Boldre, in an operation so delicate as to refrain from uprooting the sward.

Like the lake at Pilley, many of the ditches are filling up with rainwater which reflects ponies crossing at East Boldre. Unfortunately I missed a shot of the foal leaping, but he did well.

Although not a football fan I did watch the Euro 2020 championship match between England and Germany. It is, after all, mandatory.

This evening we dined on our second helpings of Red Chilli takeaway with which we both drank Kingfisher.

A Negative Tattoo

The day dawned dull yet dry; the air cool and cheerless. Nevertheless

Compassion rose, its neighbouring geranium palmatum; rose Penny Lane and her accompanying clematis Dr Ruppel flourished well enough as I made my way into the garden to gather up clippings from the Head Gardener’s morning graft.

After lunch I carried out an extensive but by no means exhaustive dead-heading exercise in the Rose Garden.

Absolutely Fabulous, For Your Eyes Only, Créme de la créme, Laura Ford, Festive Jewel, a pink rambler, and Aloha are among those that received attention.

A little later we visited Otter Nurseries where we bought another wooden bench. This was the last one in the store. It was the display item. As it was already at a reduced price there was no discount, but there was a bonus. Because it was on display we did not have to assemble it ourselves and it will be delivered tomorrow because we couldn’t fit it this form into the Modus. In football parlance this was a result.

Afterwards we continued into the forest where

beside the tidal lake at Beaulieu, a swan family were taking their cygnets for an outing, and

a human family were feeding the ducks.

Outside the Abbey two pregnant donkeys dozed and one dined on hedgerow while her son grazed for his own dinner.

Outside The Oak Inn at Bank ponies gathered on the green

and wandered in the woodland.

One in particular bore a negative tattoo of an intriguing mud pattern.

This evening we very much enjoyed an Indian Takeaway meal from Red Chilli, a new outlet in Old Milton. My main course was probably the best King Prawn Naga I have ever tasted; Jackie’s chicken biriani was equally good. My special rice was very good, and we also liked the sag poneer. There was so much that we have enough left over for tomorrow, including the plain paratha which we didn’t even unwrap. The whole meal passed what we call the poppadom test – if they are good, the rest will be. Mrs Knight drank Hoegaarden while I drank more of the CEO.

‘Why Do Swans Have Such Long Necks?’

On another darkly dank afternoon, after visiting Milford on Sea Pharmacy we returned home via Keyhaven.

From Saltgrass Lane we watched geese, gulls, and other waterfowl fishing,

flying, and floating fast on the tidal current. The colour picture in the first gallery and the first two in the next are Jackie’s.

Walkers, dogs, and cyclists exercised at safe distances. The Assistant Photographer provided the first image of this set.

Swans tend to gather under the bridge linking the lane with the spit.

Today they were accompanied by

cygnets, no longer Hans Andersen’s Ugly Ducklings, but yet to shed their cinnamon plumage and acquire an orange beak.

This one is not too big to avoid mother’s sharp reprimand.

Emma, West Sussex recently wondered why swans have such long necks.

Today’s observations suggest that it is to enable them to reach the river bed.

Here I am photographing the swans.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s scrumptious sausages in red wine; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots and cauliflower, with firm Brussels sprouts. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Shiraz.

Proliferated In The Last Month

On this fine spring morning we took a trip to Mudeford.

Gulls lined up to welcome us as Jackie drove towards the quay.

A pair of serene cygnets sailed across the calm harbour, while a hunched egret tried to pass itself off as a gull.

Currents meeting on the open sea created spray-tipped turbulence

towards which a speedboat motored.

A silhouetted group was breaking up on the quayside,

with its usual stacks of crab pots, buoys, and ropes.

Along the coast at Avon Beach solitary walker ignored the spray, while, try as it might, by kicking up sand, a dog was unable to distract its owner from her mobile phone.

We continued into the forest where, in the vicinity of Burley, grey ponies dotted the landscape.

Having laboured up a steep hill, a trio of cyclists seemed relieved to coast down the other side.

When we returned home I ventured out into the garden for the first time since my surgery. During my tour I was delighted with the array of hellebores, cyclamens, and snowdrops that have proliferated in the last month.

This evening we dined on pork chops baked with English mustard and almonds from elsewhere; roast potatoes and parsnips; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; and tender runner beans with tasty gravy.