There is nothing as beautiful as a swan swimming in a loch at sunset. Duddingston Loch is my favourite location to escape to in Edinburgh. The sound of the city is lost to the serenity of loch stretching out from the rickety old boat house. Often I find city life, the bustling, the noise, the concrete, the shops and the volume of people too much. To have these pockets of wild is wonderful.
Mute swans are part of the family of water birds Anatidae, a family of 43 genus and 174 species, which spans swans, geese and ducks. 'Mute' derives from these swans being less vocal than other swan species. These birds encompass serenity and grace as they float though the loch creating wonderful elegant shapes and forms adding to the stately and majestic motion. Their rhythmic legs extending below to disrupt the calm rippling surface as a reflected myriad of colours create a silk waltz upon the body of water. They go about their activity as I watch the Swan Loch Ballet.
Mute swans form monogamous partnerships, where both male and female tend to their mound nests where the cygnets are born. Often the families can be seen feeding together on both aquatic vegetation and grazing land. Their long necks equip them to reach down into the water surface and take from the riverbed below. They often snatch up molluscs, small fish, frogs and worms.
Whilst the swans main predator is a fox, their main threats come from humans. Their main threat is lead previously used by anglers, before the ban was instated. Swans need grit in order to break down food for digestion, whilst ingesting grit they might mistake it and swallow lead. This will gradually be absorbed and poison the swan. Further issues are caused by anglers, such as entanglement and hooking.
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