I truly believe Mute Swans to be the most magical and gentle of wild birds. These beautiful birds are one of the heaviest British birds and can grow as heavy as 14kg and have a wingspan of 2.4 metres (over 7ft), it’s the largest of our British wildfowl species. I love swans they have so many myths and stories and float about all gracefully on the water.

So, enjoy some calming nature photography…

Remember when you were told not to feed the stray cats…well I started feeding the birds by the river – not bread, because that’s bad for them, I feed them Wildthings Swan and Duck Food because it floats. now they assume I have food all the time and will follow me!

I thought I’d try and put together a little collection of things to these amazing birds.

This adult and almost fully grown cygnet very nearly made a heart shape, I got so super excited when I realised that I had taken an okay picture! The adult swans are enormous but will literally stand right next to you and while they are genuinely wild birds, they seem so domesticated.

Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake is not only possibly the most famous of all artworks involving swans, but it’s focus on the enduring and unfading lover between humans (and swans too) makes me think that all swans must be romantics at heart and that’s why they’re so gentle. One the most familiar examples of a swan myth is the 19th-century Hans Christian Andersen tale The Ugly Duckling. The dowdy ‘child’ who grows up into a magnificent adult is a lesson about not judging books by covers.

These cygnets were so incredibly curious – I’m not sure if they were actually looking at my camera or trying to eat my hair.

Swans are strikingly long-lived, with some individuals recorded living well into their twenties and over that long life they tend to stick with one mate and cygnets can stay with their parents for about a year, its lovely to see the adults with their babies not only when they’re grey and tiny, but also when they’re quite brown and scruffy. I’ve really enjoyed just watching these birds. I don’t claim to be some amazing photographer its just something I’ve started doing for fun, I don’t edit or touch up my pictures (I’m far too lazy for that!)

I know the middle of the last three pictures isn’t particularly sharp but I was thrilled I actually pressed the button on my camera at the right time I had to include it.

I hope you enjoyed these wildlife pictures.

Thanks so much for reading, have a great weekend.