My Swan Song

My Swan Song 

It all started on an overcast morning on a wee fishing loch, Rescobie in Angus,Scotland.

I have taken up Stand up Paddle boarding to help me come to terms with a recent bereavement and while paddling saw that the loch had a large swan population that I liked to take photographs off, as one of my hobby's is action and wildlife photography.

On this morning while passing a small reed bank in the middle of the loch a large Cob swan came rushing out of the reeds right at the board, I had been warned by one of the members, not to get too close to the birds as they can become very aggressive if disturbed or frightened, but this bird seemed some what different, it stopped around 5 metres from the board and just sat there looking at me, a realised that maybe I had startled it, so not to cause any more anguish I started to paddle away, but to my amazement the bird started swimming next to me, getting closer to the board as if it wanted to steer me in a certain direction which appeared to be towards the reed bank and not away from it, I don't know, it just felt weird, anyway I did paddle closer to the reeds and came across this female swan sitting in the middle of the reed bank on a nest,it was as if he wanted to show me a unique photo opportunity, and she was did not in the least seemed frightened by my presence, in fact it looked like she was posing for the camera, I took my photo's and left to carry on my paddle and put it down to coincidence, I had been in the right place at the right time and looked forward to seeing if my photographs had come out.

A few days later I went back to the Loch to get some more photos, and to my utter amazement the same cob swan joined me as soon as I entered the water, traveling close to my board and as I came close to the reed bank, moved to the front of the board as if guiding me towards the nest once more.

I dont know why , but followed it to the nest, there was the female with 4 newly hatched chicks, and she immediatly moved aside so that I could see them more clearly as if she was telling me it was ok for me to be there and was happy to share her new born family with me, as they were very small, I could not get a clear photograph of them as I do not have a long lense for my action camera, as the conditions on the water were changing, I decided to paddle back to my car and come back at a later date to see if it would be possable to get some photographs of her with her new born Sygnets

Due to weather conditions, it took over a week to get back to the Loch, but as I got ready to enter the water, there was the Cob swan waiting for me, and as I started paddling, he took the lead at the front of the board back to the nest.

There she was "The proud mom and her chicks" , they were sitting next to the waters edge as if they were waiting for me. I know this story seems a little far fetched but I truly believe that she and the male wanted to share with me the joy they felt on the birth of there chicks.

Over the coming weeks , I spent as much time as I could visiting them and take photographs of the development of there young.

 

My sincere wish in sharing this post, is that some comfort is given to someone reading this experience, and remember that no matter what life holds in store for us in the future, nothing can ever take away the precious moments and memories you have shared with others