Swans

I've been cycling along the towpath by the canal every Saturday
morning for around 9 months now. Just between the two locks. And
during that time, I've been regularly feeding a pair of swans.
Just with white bread. As with giving bread to all birds, it's
important to wet it through. But the swans take care of that for
themselves, as they take pieces from your hand and dip it in the
canal before swallowing it. If they were sitting on the far bank,
as soon as you parked the bike and rustled around for the bread,
they'd be in the water and gliding across. And so unlike on land,
where their dinner-plate sized feet make them the most ungainly
of creatures.

At the end of February I was rather worried about the swans, as
they seemed fixated on the lock gates at the bottom end of the
pound - the stretch of canal between two locks. Swimming right up
to it, and peering through the gaps in gates. This was the case
for two weeks running - when I turned up on Saturdays anyway. The
problem being that all the oil and rubbish floating in the canal
accumulates around the lock gates, and the swans were swimming through
that and picking up muck and patches of oil on their plumage. Next
year, all being well, I won't be worried though.
It seems swans are very territorial, and before deciding on
a nesting site they were checking the boundary of their
pound against possible intruders from the other side of the gate.
As there are indeed another pair of swans further down.
Then about 8 weeks ago, they'd build a nest on the far side of the
canal much further along, close to a weir. And the female, pen
could be seen be sitting on the nest while the male would be
patrolling up and down, anywhere between the two locks. Apparently
they take turns on the nest but on Saturday mornings I was definitely
feeding the male. Then two weeks ago consternation struck. No female
on the nest and no male on the canal. And the same again last week.

And then yesterday, praise be to heaven, the pair of them were
again on the canal, near the nest site. And as they swum across I
noticed they brought two of their cygnets with them. Little downy
grey chaps, with black beaks. There should maybe have been more,
not sure. The cygnets took tiny bits of bread as well. You simply
can't buy this - and all for the cost of a few slices of supermarket
bread every week.

Spiders.

Although they're supposed to breed all year round, quite a lot
of pholcus phalangoides, daddy long legs spiders, seem to be carrying
egg pouches at the moment. They carry these around in their mouths
and then carry the tiny spiders around as well.

Picture on here.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Pholcidae/Pholcidae.ht m



Moving them. If it's absolutely necessary to move one of these -
not an egg carrying one just in general, as spider silk does attract
a lot of dust and really needs to be cleaned up now and again, then a
yoghurt tub (rather than a pot) the large 450 gram ones - brought up
underneath the spider will pick up the silk threads its hanging from,
along with a somewhat surprised spider. If moved somewhere else it
should start all over again without too much ado. While smaller pots
will do, for smaller spider.

michael adams

....

"michael adams" wrote
> Swans
>
> I've been cycling along the towpath by the canal every Saturday
> morning for around 9 months now. Just between the two locks. And
> during that time, I've been regularly feeding a pair of swans.
> Just with white bread. ((Huge snip))

Michael, I was always told by the Swan Sanctuary (ex-neighbours)
http://www.swanuk.org.uk/ never to feed white bread to swans as it can cause
gut problems for them.
However there is nothing on their site about it except....
What can I feed swans?

If you want to feed swans then give them fresh bread (mould is poisonous to
them), grain such as wheat or corn, and fresh greens such as lettuce or
spinach. The food should be thrown onto the water so that they can swallow
water with the food - feeding them on land is environmentally unsound and
encourages the swans to leave the water whenever they see people which can
bring them into harm from cars, dogs etc.

Wholemeal or granary is much better whilst you are buying it.
Proper feed is even better but costs.

Don't do what some wag round here did a couple of years ago and feed them on
Flamingo food, they all started to go pink. :-)

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

"Bob Hobden" <me [at] privacy.net> wrote in message
news:4f2lpuF1h8p1pU1 [at] individual.net...
>
> "michael adams" wrote
> > Swans
> >
> > I've been cycling along the towpath by the canal every Saturday
> > morning for around 9 months now. Just between the two locks. And
> > during that time, I've been regularly feeding a pair of swans.
> > Just with white bread. As with giving bread to all birds, it's
> > important to wet it through. But the swans take care of that for
> > themselves, as they take pieces from your hand and dip it in the
> > canal before swallowing it((Huge snip))
>
> Michael, I was always told by the Swan Sanctuary (ex-neighbours)
> http://www.swanuk.org.uk/ never to feed white bread to swans as it can
cause
> gut problems for them.
> However there is nothing on their site about it except....
> What can I feed swans?


The RSPB say ideally not to feed them at all, as they can provide for
themselves with underwater weed growing from the bottom of the
canal, and grass from the banks. Along with attached water snails
etc. Having long necks helps them in this. Apparently they were also
welcomed by farmers to strip stubble from fields after harvest.

They only eat a bit of bread about five or six slices worth between
them and then "flounce off" back to the other side of the canal. They
don't gorge themselves. I suspect they're too instinctively sensible
(i.e. have survived this long ) to eat anything postively harmful, unlike
say the lead shot which they used to swallow in mistake for gravel .

Same as with blue\coal tits and peanuts. Although I use a double mesh
feeder they can still get fairly large chunks of nut. However they sit
on a perch and hold that in their claw and chip bits out. If
they were in the habit of feeding lumps of anything to nestlings
including pips or stored squirrel nuts in nature say, I very much
doubt they would have survived on their own for tens of thousands
of years.

There's also a pair of canada geese on the canal who are are a complete
pain as they're completely tame, and get out onto the bank. And so its
necessary to reach down and dunk the bread into the canal before giving
it to them.

The swans in the pond in the park aren't a patch on this pair
either, for some reason.




> If you want to feed swans then give them fresh bread (mould is poisonous
to
> them), grain such as wheat or corn, and fresh greens such as lettuce or
> spinach. The food should be thrown onto the water so that they can swallow
> water with the food - feeding them on land is environmentally unsound and
> encourages the swans to leave the water whenever they see people which can
> bring them into harm from cars, dogs etc.
>
> Wholemeal or granary is much better whilst you are buying it.

....

I eat nothing else myself. However

I buy the budget supermarket bread solely for the swans and the
woodies on the shed roof.

As it happens Tesco do a budget brown bread - not wholemeal
just the non bleached stuff, but I stick to white for the swans
so as to supplement their whiteness with the extra calcium.
Totally stupid in other words.

Swans and woodies have been looking after themselves well enough
before wholemeal bread or packaged bird food was ever thought of
and in all likelihood will probably do so again.


michael adams

....

> Proper feed is even better but costs.
>
> Don't do what some wag round here did a couple of years ago and feed them
on
> Flamingo food, they all started to go pink. :-)
>
> --
> Regards
> Bob Hobden
> 17mls W. of London.UK
>
>

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)

In article <4f2nluF1hcsohU1 [at] individual.net>, michael adams
<mjadams26 [at] onetel.net.uk> writes
>
>"Bob Hobden" <me [at] privacy.net> wrote in message
>news:4f2lpuF1h8p1pU1 [at] individual.net...

>
>As it happens Tesco do a budget brown bread - not wholemeal
>just the non bleached stuff, but I stick to white for the swans
>so as to supplement their whiteness with the extra calcium.
>Totally stupid in other words.
>
LOL! Completely so, as their whiteness has nothing to do with calcium,
but is merely an absence of pigment!


--
Malcolm

"Malcolm" <Malcolm [at] indaal.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:W6d$KfoiTDjEFwjD [at] indaal.demon.co.uk...
>
> In article <4f2nluF1hcsohU1 [at] individual.net>, michael adams
> <mjadams26 [at] onetel.net.uk> writes
> >
> >"Bob Hobden" <me [at] privacy.net> wrote in message
> >news:4f2lpuF1h8p1pU1 [at] individual.net...
>
> >
> >As it happens Tesco do a budget brown bread - not wholemeal
> >just the non bleached stuff, but I stick to white for the swans
> >so as to supplement their whiteness with the extra calcium.
> >Totally stupid in other words.
> >
> LOL! Completely so, as their whiteness has nothing to do with calcium,
> but is merely an absence of pigment!

Oh really?

calcium, melanin, and albinism -

<quote>

The same idea goes for people- mutant protein means less calcium
in the cells, less calcium means less melanin, and less melanin
means lighter skin. Of course, this is just a guess based on
comparing this gene to other known genes. More work still needs
to be done to figure out how all of this really works.

http://www.thetech.org/genetics/news.php?id=27

</quote>

It's all cutting-edge stuff on this NG, you know.

I'm still working on the carotenoid angle, so you can guess what
they'll be getting in addition next week.



michael adams

>
>
> --
> Malcolm

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)

"Malcolm" <Malcolm [at] indaal.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:TNJOHyrxtEjEFwQE [at] indaal.demon.co.uk...
>
> In article <4f2t06F1gur8lU1 [at] individual.net>, michael adams
> <mjadams26 [at] onetel.net.uk> writes
> >
> >"Malcolm" <Malcolm [at] indaal.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> >news:W6d$KfoiTDjEFwjD [at] indaal.demon.co.uk...
> >>
> >> In article <4f2nluF1hcsohU1 [at] individual.net>, michael adams
> >> <mjadams26 [at] onetel.net.uk> writes
> >> >
> >> >"Bob Hobden" <me [at] privacy.net> wrote in message
> >> >news:4f2lpuF1h8p1pU1 [at] individual.net...
> >>
> >> >
> >> >As it happens Tesco do a budget brown bread - not wholemeal
> >> >just the non bleached stuff, but I stick to white for the swans
> >> >so as to supplement their whiteness with the extra calcium.
> >> >Totally stupid in other words.
> >> >
> >> LOL! Completely so, as their whiteness has nothing to do with calcium,
> >> but is merely an absence of pigment!
> >
> >Oh really?
> >
> >calcium, melanin, and albinism -
> >
>
> ><quote>
> >
> >The same idea goes for people- mutant protein means less calcium
> >in the cells, less calcium means less melanin, and less melanin
> >means lighter skin. Of course, this is just a guess based on
> >comparing this gene to other known genes. More work still needs
> >to be done to figure out how all of this really works.
> >
> >http://www.thetech.org/genetics/news.php?id=27
> >
> ></quote>
> >
> A feather is composed of keratin and virtually nothing else. Melanin is
> the commonest feather pigment in birds. Albinism is the absence of all
> pigment, including from the soft parts, which then appear pinkish. You
> can also have partial albinism, e.g. a Blackbird with a few white
> feathers is a common example. The Mute Swan's plumage is not partial
> albinism, it is just white!
>
> I'm not sure where calcium fits into all this among birds. Your
> interesting reference appears to about fish and humans! Perhaps you can
> find a parallel for birds.
>
> >It's all cutting-edge stuff on this NG, you know.
> >
> Absolutely. I'm trying to find a connection with gardening, but failing
> so far :-)

....


That why I prexfixed my original post with the "OT".

....

>
> >I'm still working on the carotenoid angle, so you can guess what
> >they'll be getting in addition next week.
> >
> I'm not sure that feeding food additives to wild birds is something I
> approve of.

...


Er no. What I had in mind are orange in colour and similar in
shape to parsnips.

Just to bring it back on topic, as it were.


michael adams

....

>
> --
> Malcolm

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)

"Malcolm" wrote after
>
Bob Hobden Replied to him
>>>
>>> I've been cycling along the towpath by the canal every Saturday
>>> morning for around 9 months now. Just between the two locks. And
>>> during that time, I've been regularly feeding a pair of swans.
>>> Just with white bread. ((Huge snip))
>>
>>Michael, I was always told by the Swan Sanctuary (ex-neighbours)
>>http://www.swanuk.org.uk/ never to feed white bread to swans as it can
>>cause
>>gut problems for them.
>>However there is nothing on their site about it except....
>>What can I feed swans?
>>
>>If you want to feed swans then give them fresh bread (mould is poisonous
>>to
>>them), grain such as wheat or corn, and fresh greens such as lettuce or
>>spinach. The food should be thrown onto the water so that they can swallow
>>water with the food - feeding them on land is environmentally unsound and
>>encourages the swans to leave the water whenever they see people which can
>>bring them into harm from cars, dogs etc.
>>
>>Wholemeal or granary is much better whilst you are buying it.
>>Proper feed is even better but costs.
>>
>>Don't do what some wag round here did a couple of years ago and feed them
>>on
>>Flamingo food, they all started to go pink. :-)
>>
> White bread as a supplement to everything else they will be eating,
> especially at this time of year when there is plenty of vegetation both in
> and out of the water, won't hurt them at all. Town park swans probably
> have the majority of their food provided for them during the winter months
> by members of the public feeding them bread - usually white - and come to
> no harm at all.
>
> I have never, ever, heard before that mould on bread is poisonous to
> swans - or to anything else for that matter - it certainly isn't poisonous
> to humans. Do you have a basis for saying that, or does this come from
> your swan sanctuary ex-neighbours, too?

That was a copy from their site.
Take a look at the site I mentioned, it's their instructions and they are
the internationally acknowledged experts in Swan care. They are responsible
for the revival on the Thames for sure.
If you dispute their instructions perhaps you should e-mail them and let us
know their response.

> I have to say that their claim that white bread causes swans gut problems
> is something for which I've never seen any real evidence, either.
>

Ditto, but as I said it's not mentioned on their site but was mentioned to
me by Dot.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)

"Malcolm" <Malcolm [at] indaal.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:iYWSy1nMdCjEFw3s [at] indaal.demon.co.uk...
>
> I have never, ever, heard before that mould on bread is poisonous to
> swans - or to anything else for that matter - it certainly isn't
> poisonous to humans. Do you have a basis for saying that,


Aspergillosis an infectious fungal respitory infection of waterfowl
including all types of swans has been associated with the ingestion
of cereal and other moulds. In one case specifically, (a Bewick's Swan)
with moudly bread.

<quote>

One case in a wild Bewick's swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii was
hypothesized to have been associated with the feeding of mouldy bread
(J7.14.w4).

</quote>

http://212.187.155.70/gateway_wp/samplepages/Diseases/Asperg illosis.htm



michael adams

....

> or does this
> come from your swan sanctuary ex-neighbours, too? I have to say that
> their claim that white bread causes swans gut problems is something for
> which I've never seen any real evidence, either.
>
> --
> Malcolm

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)