Village Life, Lost Cygnets and Canada Geese

I had a walk to the village lido to see how the cygnets were getting on. We actually had a bit of sun today. I haven't been down for a few weeks so I found the water covered in lily pads. The ducks spotted me and they came swimming over like an armada. They see people walking around and automatically think they've got food.

The people who maintain the village ponds put blue dye in the water to keep the algae down. Even though it isn't harmful to the birds, it stops aquatic vegetation from growing, which some birds eat as well as molluscs. We have fewer birds on the ponds because of lack of food, so the villagers tend to help feed the birds.

There were some nice cloud reflections in the water. A couple of pigeons were on the angler's platform, probably putting the world to rights.

Just past the tree, I could see some Canada Geese that have taken up residence on the lido. They don't normally stay for long, but two of them are this year's goslings. They grow up pretty quickly. Some stay with their parents for quite a while, but others will fly off and make return trips to visit their parents.

I went back along the country lanes, taking advantage of the dry day. It was looking a bit overcast as we were due a bit of rain this afternoon.

The foxgloves looked as though they were bowing to me as I walked past.

When I got back, I found out the parent swans had taken their cygnets to someone's garden nearby who had a pond. Apparently, there's a lot of food there, and the people who own the garden don't seem to mind. It's a good job really and at least they are very safe.