Drama on the river .........

I was out walking as normal on Thursday and had just put Jada & Harvey back into the van when I noticed a commotion going on down on the river.

Mute swans are strongly territorial, but for the most part the large group on the river live quite harmoniously together.  Obvious exceptions are mating, breeding times and defence of cygnets.

I was horrified to see a very large adult, which I presumed to be a cob, literally trying to drown another swan.

Whether this was a juvenile (anywhere between 2 & 4yrs as it had distinctive white plumage, as opposed mixed or brown feathers of this year's cygnets) I have no idea, but whatever it's age it had clearly upset the more dominant male who was intent on killing it.

It was a particularly vicious and prolonged attack, which was both distressing from my viewpoint and obviously of concern to the other swans who were milling around with some appearing to try and intervene only to be severely reprimanded.

The dominant cob was literally on top of the smaller swan and chased it right across the river, pushing it's head under the water at every opportunity.  I had no idea how to help (and know that we shouldn't intervene in nature) but could only stand and watch as they came back across where the smaller swan suddenly managed to find some extra strength and pull free.  It actually took to the air and was able to move a little further downriver and out of reach, whereby I felt a huge surge of relief.

The cob moved very quickly to the side of another swan, I'm presuming it's mate, and carried on as though nothing had happened, only to reaffirm their affection as the last photo shows. 

PS. there is a postscript to this.......saw the same kind of behaviour again, not so aggressive but saw it from the beginning this time, it seems as though a new group of swans is joining the established swans, maybe the cause?

Just for info if case you're interested:

Swans are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). It is an offence intentionally to injure, take or destroy a wild Swan. It is an offence to take or possess the egg of a wild Swan, or to damage or destroy the nest whilst it is in use or being built.
The Mute Swan has been a royal bird since at least 1186. The Swan's royal status was formally recognised in the 'Act of Swans' which came into force in 1482. The Act provided formal legislation concerning the ownership and marking of Swans. The Crown granted privileges of keeping Swans on open and common waters provided they were marked. All unmarked Swans belong to the Crown. On the Thames, at the annual 'Swan-upping', the cygnets are still marked on the beak as either the property of the Crown or of the two privileged City of London companies, the Dyers and Vintners. More recently, a specific clause was made in The Wild Creatures and Forest Law Act (1971) to safeguard the Queen's rights of ownership of Swans.

Sebastian ................

Sebastian is a beautiful Daschund, as you can see he's black with wonderful dashes of caramel; his fur is silky soft and he's a lovely natured dog.
I was lucky enough to dog sit for him for a few days recently and he was the perfect gent!

He loves nothing more than to snooze on your lap and took a great interest in everything I did, nothing escaped his attention and for a small dog I was fascinated how quickly he ate his food - he was like a mini vacuum cleaner, he almost inhaled it, but ever so gently.......a real sweetie!

Molly's holiday..........

                                             
                             MOLLY'S  HOLIDAY
                               

         Back in September Molly came to stay; now she's a very beautiful
         Golden Retriever, as you can see, but would she stand still for her
         photo to be taken?     I'll let you be the judge of that !

        We had some great walks together and some funny episodes, but one
        of the funniest was when I came in one day and found her curled up
        on the armchair - she didn't hear me come in and the first she knew
        was me asking her what she thought she was doing.
        Her front legs slipped down of their own accord, she gave a mighty
        stretch, looked at me as if to say 'I'm getting down' and very pointedly
        just relaxed off the chair, until she was sitting on the floor.
       'No idea what that was all about', and two minutes later she was sound 
        asleep again!
                     

It can't have gone THAT  far!

Down here??

where did it go?

Forever Autumn.........

Well the calender says Autumn is finally here...........but yesterday was one of those wonderful days when the sky is cornflower blue, there's a slight breeze, just enough to cool things down and so beautiful I almost don't know where to start!

The river was exactly at high tide on my fifth dog walk of the day and very high, in fact probably the highest I've seen for a few months now.  The swans were almost level with the top of the bank and I could barely see the plants that had been on dry land only a couple of hours previously.


A flock of gulls were dive bombing a kestrel that was flying high on the thermals to escape and even though I watched for some time, I couldn't see it's prey.  Obviously it was too near the gulls for their liking and eventually they tired of the game and turned as one, an arc of silver,turning this way and that, until they eventually disappeared, leaving it to drift aimlessly higher, swooping at the last, only to miss and begin the cycle over again.






There were dragonflies aplenty this summer too, mostly blue and they filled the air in various places, a small fetch or flight of them, busily darting here and there, sometimes almost too fast to see, just a vivid flash of azure blue out of the corner of my eye.

Of course no September day would be complete without spiders webs, they're so delicate and yet so strong,  and always where we least expect them to be (usually when we've walked into one, head first)!




Blackberries, sloes and rosehips are plentiful this year, in fact the sloes and even damsons in some areas are just falling onto the ground to lay forgotten by most but the birds and insects who are taking full advantage of the feast.

It looks to be a bountiful harvest, plenty for the birds and small mammals to eat and store in preparation for the winter to come.

Molly.......

On quiet days I allow myself to look back over the animals who have shared my life and although they all hold a special place in my heart, there is one that I wish I had known longer and been able to give more to.

Molly came into my life unexpectedly, as most animals that steal your heart do.
I was volunteering with GSD Welfare at the time and used to spend my Sunday mornings walking dogs at the local kennels.  They were there for a variety of reasons, some genuine and some not.

Molly and eight other Shepherds were living at a breeding kennels in Wales.  Their 'owner' was un-licenced and a prospective customer had been so appalled at the conditions that the dogs were kept in that they reported them to the local council. GSD Welfare subsequently received a call to say that if no one came and collected the dogs within 24hrs, they would all be shot.  Needless to say the van was on it's way within hours and arrived back at the kennels late that night. All of the dogs were scared, traumatised and filthy dirty.

I think I fell in love with Molly the first time I saw her, she was long-haired, black and tan and had the saddest eyes of any I have seen.  She was approximately 9yrs old and had been kept as a breeding bitch in a concrete kennel her whole life.  To her, the outside world was an unknown place of loud noises and strange people, she was literally frightened of everything and everyone.
She sat at the very back of her kennel, her face to the wall as she tried desperately to avoid any kind of eye contact with anyone who approached her.  She never growled, or attempted to bite, even in fear, but froze whenever anyone stopped to talk to her or try and stroke her.

Eventually she would reluctantly come outside with the kennel staff and volunteers but she was always happiest when she was put back in her kennel. To her it was home and meant she was safe. I used to save special tit-bits for her but she wouldn't eat them until the kennel door was safely shut behind me and she was alone again.

One Sunday I arrived to find that she had been rehomed and although I was sad for me, I was so happy to think that finally she had a home of her own where she could live as she was meant to. Her new owners had a few acres of land but only her second day on the property, she ran away.  She must have been terrified, she'd never known such space.  Thankfully she was found but not before she had managed to cross the A13 - how she wasn't killed I have no idea, but the following week she was back in her kennel and I knew this time that the only person she would be coming home with would be me.

I brought her back for a couple of weekend visits, to make sure she was ok with my cats (who had already lived with a GSD previously) and once I knew she wasn't concerned with them, or them with her, it became a permanent arrangement.

I have many memories of the 2 1/2yrs she was with me but my most abiding was the first day I took her for a walk up to the river.  It was a sunny morning, one of those perfect days when it's warm and bright and we walked through the fields and from there up onto the sea wall.

I'll never forget her standing on the bank, so still she might have been a statue, watching the sunlight dancing off the water and the swans swimming lazily across from the other side. To think that she had never seen anything like it still makes me sad, but the reality was of course she hadn't -  a collar and lead were unknown so how could she have ever been for a walk.

I like to think that she came to trust me, and I know she did, but the one thing she had never done despite repeated attempts to teach her, was to offer her paw.  Most GSD's will fling their paw at you at breakneck speed if they think a treats in the offing but not Molly, she would have waited and then waited some more until I grew tired of the game and gave her the treat anyway.

Her final day came all too soon, despite an operation to remove multiple tumours, they just had too great a hold and I had to say goodbye to my old friend.  As I gently stroked her and told her it was ok I remember she looked up at me and without her eyes leaving mine, just as gently, finally gave me her paw.

Her trust in me was complete.......

.

Boys will be boys.......

As some of you may know I live backing onto a small nature reserve, which is frequented by a number of foxes.  My awareness that they are there has always made me endeavour to get the cats in at night, and for the most part I'm lucky that they've come in and stay in after they've been fed.  The long, hot nights though are different and they push the boundaries, sometimes leaving it until literally the moment before the kitchen lights are switched off before hurrying inside.
Last Sunday night was hot and humid and we'd had thunder rumbling around for much of the day and so of course by the time they'd actually wanted to go out it was almost time to come back in!

We'd gone to bed when there was the sounds of an almighty scuffle outside and a cat screaming and yowling at the top of it's voice.  We flew out of bed and down the stairs, my one thought that it was a fox fighting with one of the cats.  Almost at the same time as we shot out into the garden, Jet came over the side gate and tore down to the bottom of the garden where it backs onto the field.  My worst thoughts were realised - Jax was the one in trouble.

Trying to see a black cat at night with no lights is next to impossible and we called until we were hoarse with no luck.  Turning around I heard a soft miaow and found Jet next to a clearly distressed Jax.  We literally scooped them both up and went inside placing Jax on the kitchen counter where I could get a better look at him.  Apart from several clumps of fur that had obviously been loosened and the fact that he was clearly frightened and panicked, he appeared ok.

Jet jumped up beside him and set about grooming him to within an inch of his life, soft trills filling the air as Jax began to calm under his brother's ministrations. We watched in amusement as Jet checked him from head to toe, and then, when he was evidently satisfied,  sat back on his haunches and boxed Jax's ears for him, before jumping down and calmly going to bed, back turned and eyes closed.

All was right with our world again as dual purred rumblings filled the air.

What did I do???????

If you don't know by now, you never will!

                             

Hot dogs & water.............

It probably won't come as any surprise that the main topic of conversation when I meet other dog walkers is the weather; be it hot, cold, muggy, stormy or somewhere in between, we all have an opinion on it!

For a lot of dogs of course the hot weather means staying in until the evening eventually cools down and they spend the day happily catching an extra 40 winks or 3, their imagination running riot ,but their bodies laying dormant in the cool of the house or shady garden.

My clients of course don't have that luxury and for most of them their routine is such that we are often out during the hottest part of the day since it's halfway through their owner's working day. A couple of times in the last week or so I have had to resort to staying in with them, of course they don't understand why and are just as eager to start their walk as ever, a mixture of disbelief and confusion crossing their face as we make for the garden instead of the fields.

Harvey, being a model Labrador (yes he really is for the most part now)......loves the water and will take every opportunity to either be in it, drink it or shaking it all over some poor unsuspecting human.  Add a tennis ball into the mix and fun is guaranteed.  He and Jada played quite happily in his back garden with the hose, running in and out until the grass was a muddy shadow of it's former glory and their coats were steaming gently in the rising heat.  Jada for her part wasn't quite so sure but joined in with great enthusiasm once she realised the rules - mainly that there weren't any and if there were, she was going to be the one who made them.

Harvey has become quite the gentleman with her, often letting her get to the ball first (which is really something when you consider the adoration he lavishes on them) and even catching it and then very gently nudging it with his nose towards her.  Ahhh true love......