Friday 31 August 2012

First Swan report of the year, and some knitting

My regular readers may remember my pictures of whooper swans nesting in our village. For several years already, a whooper swan couple has built their nest by one of the little ponds around the village and brought their young to the village centre for flying lessons. This year made no exception, the couple - together for life - arrived in the spring and walked their babies to the bigger ponds for a first visit in June already. Local bird friends were worried about them and put up a self-made traffic sign:
 


There are two bigger ponds on different sides of the road through the village, and the birds would need to cross it if they wanted to change scenery. The bird looks more like a mute swan with the curved neck, but everyone will understand to look out for swans. After WWII the whooper swan was almost extinct in Finland, but the books by a beloved author, Yrjö Kokko, changed the situation and the estimated number of nesting couples for last year in Finland was already 5,000 to 7,000.


 
In August the school begins, for little swans as well. They have now moved to the big ponds in the village and learn to find their food in deeper water. This year there are seven (7!) babies in the family.



Later when the parents have grown new feathers, flight lessons will begin. They need a long runway to get in the air. There is often already ice on the ponds before the swans are ready to leave for the winter.


Mother or father is keeping watch while the cygnets eat with their heads under water.


On the crafty front I have been very passive lately, just knitted some squares for a new blanket in the evenings while watching TV.


There is a touch of Autumn in the air already, today is the last day of Summer. Enjoy your weekend!

8 comments:

  1. Glad the story about the swans continue. Before reading your posts about swans, swans were all swans to me. Either black or white. So nice to see there are differences!
    And what a great idea to put up those signs!
    I can feel the softness of your blanket-to-be!
    Happy weekend.

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  2. I love the annual swan reports. It's so nice that the village people are watching out for them. Happy knitting.

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  3. Very nice story about the swans. Like your knitting.

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  4. Very interesting reading about your swans, quite a success story. I smiled at your last 2 pics, it seems as tho the swan is looking at your knitting and wants to see more of it. Very curious indeed...

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  5. Herbst liegt tatsächlich in der Luft. Gestern haben wir in den Bergen den ersten Schnee entdeckt :-( ! Wie schön, dass es eine Fortsetzung deiner Schwangeschichten gibt. Wünsche dir eine gute Woche mit vielen interessanten Fernsehsendungen....damit deine Decke wachsen kann :-) !!
    Herzliche Grüsse, Barbara

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  6. Spring is just starting and I havn't seen our swans yet. 7signets is a lot. So glad they made it to the big pond and nice the village is involved. Knitting is a good occupation for evenings.
    Good weekend

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  7. I am looking forward to seeing the whooper swans arrive here for the Winter on the wetlands. I wonder each time if they are the same ones you know. :-)

    Well done with the knitting. There is definitely a nip in the air today. I wore my red boots and coat for the 1st time when trying a little walk to Lidl. All was good so a rest worked well.

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  8. Lovely sign of the swans,they sure-ly are great all alive too! Good luck with all your knitting:-)

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