I traded skiing for bird watching today. Great choice! I got to witness some drama and action, and got my best swan pictures to date as well.

I used the same spot as last week and this time the swans didn’t mind me. There are more of them now, and they are too busy fighting each other over this small patch of open water to worry about people quietly sitting on the shore. I was very nearly shocked when a pair of swans swam right towards me and then started foraging for food so close that I was desperately zooming out to get any kind of composition out of the birds. But very soon I got an idea of what was going on – this pair that was the first to approach me was trying to dominate over the other swans, they were aggressive and fearless. I knew that swans can be violent and don’t tolerate other birds in their territory during nesting, but this was the first time I’ve seen such a clear display of the behaviour (even if it’s not quite nesting time as yet). I will let the pictures tell the story!