01-03-2015, 09:32 PM
1
The swan fight Clumber Park
In a nutshell...Early one morning on Clumber Park years ago with my camera...I heard a thrashing of wings and looking behind me saw a Cob mute swan heading for the opposite bank.He had seen another pair enter his territory with their cygnets.
They turned back,but unfortunately their cygnets were trapped by the high bank.
Instead of backing down they had to return for their chicks and this started the fight with the resident male.
At first the pen backed her mate in the fight...but her instinct was to leave the males to it while she ushered her chicks to safety.
The fight got more and more vicious and went on until they were both exhausted nearly an hour later when I had run out of film.
I've seen fights before but never more than a few minutes long...I think this one carried on because the incoming male was unwilling to abandon his cygnets.
Oh for a video camera in those days...I'll not see the like again.
You'll have to excuse quality these are from old scanned prints.
http://s219.photobucket.com/user/rae...w/swan%20fight
02-03-2015, 04:02 PM
9
Re: The swan fight Clumber Park
Originally Posted by BowieEyes
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What happened in the end though. Did one of the males back down ??
It was a draw...
They were both completely exhausted...at one time one cob just laid it's head onto the back of the other with no reaction.
The intruder eventually climbed the bank...saw it's pen had managed to find a way back into her own pond with the cygnets and he joined them.
Oh for a digital with a huge memory card...I ran out of film.I just wish I still had the negatives for a better quality record.
By this time it was about 6.30am and I had been joined by about ten other early risers watching the spectacle...they were too late to get many photos though.
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