In Eyemouth boatyard, boats are stripped to the bare metal and painted. The bright colours make them visible to shipping and perhaps chase away the blues. Then after many hours at sea, the scouring of salt and weather strips the paint to reveal subtle hues of complementary colours. The letters denote the place of registration. LH 109 is the port […]
Category Archives: News from the Nest
Swans are fiercely territorial. The young herring gull, caught between the river and the harbour mouth, is shown little mercy by the parent swans. The cygnets, mimicking parental behaviour, join in the one-sided skirmish. The gull finds sanctuary on the river bank, but with a damaged wing, its chances of survival are poor.
Young swans wings grow disproportionately. Long necks and strong bodies are needed now…. flying lessons come later.
Just over a month since hatching and the cygnets are gaining confidence and growing to look more like the parents with longer necks and bigger bodies.
Mechanical monsters have invaded the quiet waters of Eyemouth to scour the harbour floor. Oozing black mud and sea water, the detritus of the last three years is hauled up and deposited on the waiting Shearwater, the flat bottomed boat which dumps each load into the North Sea. These workhorses dwarf everything else in the harbour, labouring both day […]
A sad end to the week, as the following extract posted by the Berwick Swan and Wildlife Trust in the local paper makes clear. “A little cygnet came in recently from Eyemouth. It appeared to have injured its leg, as it was unable to use its left leg at all. The bird was x-rayed and the vet thought […]
The man in the Fishermen’s Mutual Association, as reliable a source as you could hope for, has confirmed the story of the cygnet with the broken leg. A telephone call to the Berwick Swan and Wildlife Trust flagged up the injury and the cygnet was picked up at the nest. It will receive treatment then be […]
The end of week two and sadly one of the cygnets appears to have perished. Tales that the little one was ‘away to the vets to mend a broken leg’ gave some hope, but this now seems unlikely. On a positive note, the remaining seven are thriving and are often to be seen in the […]
End of week one and the cygnets are exploring the local travel options.
The last of the cygnets to hatch remains in the safety of the nest. Eight cygnets hatched successfully over a period of two days……and not an ugly duckling in sight! Six of the cygnets, those which hatched first, are quick to learn the behaviour of the adult, swimming and foraging in the bank for food. […]
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