Cygnets, ducklings and goslings…

This post probably needs a cuteness overload alert, but the goslings may well grow up to be trouble because they’re less than a fortnight old and they’ve already found a wonderful game. They wait till the miniature train that runs round the lake is coming round the bend, and then they all walk confidently onto the track, with a parent at each end of the line. Then they stop. So does the train. I swear the geese grin as everyone gets out to take pictures and bribe them with food to get off the line so the train can go on. I wouldn’t put it past them to hijack the train altogether, but they prove who’s in charge, and it’s the one with the wings and the feathers!

The ducklings are doing well and occasionally listen to their mums, and the cygnets are just gorgeous as you can see.

They’re Punky and Lucky’s brood, and there are eight little fluffy creatures who would rather ride on their mum’s back than swim in cold water, which is why you can only see seven of them Not their Dad, though. Punky is the swan with the broken beak (don’t worry, it’s like a fingernail, so it doesn’t hurt). It broke when he got a fishhook in it when he was a cygnet, and we kept him calm, called swan rescue and went down each day to feed him frozen peas while it healed. He’s now sixteen, which is old for a swan to be breeding, but his partner LKY, known to us as Lucky, is three years younger, and they are brilliant parents, but Punkey doesn't take any nonsense. Every year, I feel honoured when they bring them to meet us. We get through a lot of grain and suet pellets at this time of year, and it’s more than worth every penny because there’s an air of happiness in the park, and people talk to each other and say where the new babies are, and you’re reminded that most people are nice.

They were definitely lovely at the hospital when they took the steel wires out of my daughter’s arm. Lots of waiting around, but that’s the NHS for you, and it’s in a splint for 3 weeks, getting less and less each day and has healed well. It’ll be useful for research, but I’d still rather she didn’t do it again.

So have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up on Tuesday.