Another bird post. This one is from Ellesmere Port. Baz and I were trying to get round to Minnow to say hello to Mark and Vicky and found our path blocked on this narrow strip of land by a nesting swan. Now, I know two things about swans:
1. They are very powerful
2. They tend to be rather grumpy, especially if they have eggs to defend
The chap whose legs you can see on the left said very airily, oh, just front it up; show it you're not scared. Baz and I clearly were quite scared, but sidled gingerly past and got away with it. Only to look across Minnow and the other boats to see Mark and Vicky disappearing towards the cafe for their breakfast (it transpired). So we had to brave the swan - who was now starting to lose patience with us a bit - going in the other direction. Again, our basket-bearing friend urged us not to be wimps and assured us that we could -and should - face down the magnificent beast. And again, we snuck past as unobtrusively as possible, even going so far as to step onto a rather unreliable looking pontoon. But when we got safely back and glanced over towards our fearless advisor, he was still hesitating, and hadn't passed the swan once.
We eventually did go back to see Mark and Vicky, but we walked across the boats this time; manners are important, but not as important as not getting attacked by a swan.
2 comments:
I once got past an aggressive swan near the Shady Oak on the Shroppie by using my jacket - matador style - to distract her & protect me.
All the people following me then did the same, so it was a bit of a heroic moment, especially as we had an audience from the sunny lawn of the said pub.
Just been reading your post about believing everything your parents/teachers/lecturers tell you. Break your arm with their wing?!? Doubtful (I still didn't want to risk it though!)
Good point! Might give you a nasty peck though. They're just very good at looking scary. Another thing my mother used to say was that it's harder walking downstairs than up. Just after writing that post I walked down 175 stairs to the Picadilly line at Russell Square, and I thought, no, this is not harder than walking up. Another one bites the dust.
Post a Comment