With somewhat disappointing activity on Sherdley Park lake this year, it’s been down to the Sutton Mill Dam to fly the flag. As reported previously in this blog, a pair of mute swans have once again been breeding at the Dam. However, there was disturbing news in the St.Helens Star last week of the male cob getting snagged in a fisherman’s line and consequently unable to feed himself for several days. As an impending father-to-be, this was all that he needed!
Four new-born cygnets fresh on the water at the Sutton Mill Dam
When I was there last Friday the pen was still sitting on her nest incubating her eggs but was noticeably unsettled, no doubt missing her partner who was nowhere to be seen. I suspect the cob had been removed by the RSPCA for treatment. But as of Monday this week the pair were back together on the lake proudly showing off their new brood of four gorgeous, fluffy cygnets!
Wherever Mum goes, the four cygnets have to go too!
Whilst I was there I was told of a boy that had used a brick to "cave in a duck's head " over the half-term holidays, decapitating it. Later as I was taking pictures of the four cygnets from the west bridge, I spoke to a friendly chap who wondered whether the quartet would be able to survive the actions of the yobs. A very good question indeed.
People often stop and talk to me as I photograph or video the dam. I’m regularly impressed by the affection that the locals have for the place. I recall in 2006 someone stopping to say that they'd witnessed a grey heron swoop on an unsuspecting moorhen and carry the whole creature off in its beak. With a lot of heron activity on the Dam at the moment, it's not surprising that the circumspect moorhens tend to keep their young safe under the branches of fallen trees by the side of the lake. However, I did manage to snap some pictures of the moorhen brood with mother moorhen feeding her bedraggled-looking young. (see above)
The great crested grebes have also been breeding. Initially they carry their new-born on their backs as the mute swans do with their very young cygnets. In no time at all though the young grebes are almost as big as their parents but still dependent upon them for food. Mum and Dad grebe can regularly be observed diving into the waters of the Sutton Mill Dam for fish for their babes. Their young’s stripey head and neck (pic above right) does give them a certain pyjama look! Or is it toothpaste? Totally bald they’ve yet to grow their distinctive ornate head plumes which in the past have been a great attraction for hunters and which almost led to the great crested grebes becoming exterminated from the UK.
The mallards have also been breeding with nine ducklings observed in one brood. Constantly under threat from herons and yobs, the duck numbers on the Sutton Mill Dam never seem to increase. Ducklings do have another menace to contend with, female mallards, who sometimes kill youngsters who've strayed from another brood. The deadliest of the species…? This is not nice but it's nature and happens. You can't similarly excuse those who like to kill the wild fowl on the Mill Dam for kicks.
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