Mission Impossible?

Our daunting task was too catch nine cygnets, all could have possibly have been together and with a dwindling team of ringers the task was going to be almost impossible! However, a crack team of determined swan ringers pulled out all the stops and pulled out all nine cygnets from the waters of Radipole Lake (before obviously putting the back once ringed!!).

Here are a few of them all wrapped up in their special swan carrier bag things. They all seemed rather relaxed about the whole process. One we even had to wake up so that it was looking at the camera for a photo!

This years breeding success at the lake was pretty good, probably got about 15 cygnets in all which have made it to full size. Our nine were the friendlier ones, the other six will be much harder to catch and ring. Saying that, this fella was a lively one. I took a liking to the family this one belonged to, I even fed them special chick crumb as hatchlings to help them along. Unfortunately my generosity wasn’t reflected in the way the bird treated me. It pretty much managed to bite every bit of me... ungrateful little *?!!*&!%...

Next time your down at the lake check out their new shiny colour rings! Looking forward to see where the little dudes end up!