Ryton Willows Pond

Ryton Willows is a small local nature reserve on the edge of the river Tyne, on the western edge of Newcastle, with some woodland, extensive areas of grassland, gorse and very fine ponds that are SSSIs. They're also good feeding and breeding habitat for water fowl.

Like many urban fringe reserves it has its share of vandalism problems and three years ago the family of swans and cygnets that nested there were slaughtered in a barbaric air gun attack.  This year's swans seem to be doing well and have raised two cygnets ...........

....... that are currently being taught life skills by the parent birds.

While we watched the female swam  swam over to the bank, pulled out beak-fulls of vegetation and dropped it into the water in front of the cygnets, presumably introducing them to the concept of grazing.

Across the pond this demanding moorhen fledgling was giving the parent bird no rest and ...........

..... neither were two dabchick chicks, who converged on their mother every time she surfaced from a dive with food.

Unusual Fly-past and the Wobbly World of Heat-haze

This black swan from the collection of ornamental waterfowl on the boating lake at Cleethorpes joined the local mute swans for a fly-past this morning, while ....

.... out beyond the saltmarsh a little egret, a classic sailing ship and the wind turbines on the Yorkshire coast of the River Humber all had some wind in their sails, even if everything was shimmering in a heat-haze