Our little swan family hit the road yesterday and headed for a new life on the river!

I got a call at 7.30am to say the swans were holding up traffic at our local railway crossing. By the time I got there we had little choice but to lead them down to the river.

So with Libby in front warning dog walkers and me behind in the buggy, we led them down. Apart from Charlie attacking a curious terrier, it went well ( the dog survived unscathed)

I’ve been out today and checked the river from one end of Morpeth to the next and no sign of swans. I hope that means they have gone well down the river.

Our newest pond, Shadfen Shallows has a very active group of dragonflies. We have two types out at the moment, they are Broad Bodied Chasers and Four Spotted Chasers.

Yes our swan family went on walk about again this morning. Another phone all from my local informants telling me that our swans were heading for the railway crossing.

I zipped over there to head them off, after a sit down protest I eventually managed to shepherd them back to the reserve (about 90 minutes!). Apologies to my paperman who had to wait while they dawdled down the track.

I think I need to tag them so I get an alarm when they leave the boundaries of the reserve!

On Sunday morning we had a knock on the door from our friendly Sunday paper delivery man. He warned us that our swans were going off piste and we’re currently heading into Morpeth via the road (with all eight cygnets in tow).

Libby and I scampered out in hot pursuit ( missing breakfast) to find the family about to cross the East Coast mainline😱. I should say this is about 0.5 miles from their pond! With some gentle persuasion we managed to turn them around a walk them back towards the Reserve.

After a very slow walk we reached the road to the reserve and they refused to go home. They decided to go up the public footpath in the opposite direction to the reserve. My thought is they were trying to reach the river. We followed them until they disappeared into a barley field and decided we could do no more.

About two hours later they wandered up to the entrance to the reserve looking rather tired! Those short fat hairy legs must have done more than 2 miles walking.

I’m pretty sure they will try this again but I’m not sure we can do much to stop them (if we should even try). My worry is dogs and cars!

Last week we welcomed 3 youngsters from King Edward’s High School for a weeks work experience.

Luke, Matthew and Adam were given a project to replace our old wooden pallet steps down to the reedbed boardwalk. These were temporary and have lasted 4 years but were in desperate need of renovation.

My idea was to make new frames filled with sand and patio bricks, and so…….

A big thanks to Luke, Matthew, and Adam for their hard work over the week. We now have a nice solid set of steps which I hope they will last many years.

Our Little Grebes have finally produced a few chicks (two to be precise).

These little cuties are so small they look like corks bobbing on the pond, I hope they make it to adulthood.

The adult does carry the youngsters on their back when they have finished feeding.

Day 5 and Charles and Camilla commence orientation trading with a day trip to Woggle water pond.

Along walk for such short legs!

At last made the destination, and still all eight in tow.

Just time for some celebratory dad dancing (or was he disturbing the mud for food?)

Our first dragonfly of the season was seen yesterday.

As usual our first dragon to arrive was the Broad Bodied Chaser, and it was a very smart male. I haven’t seen a female yet.

Charles and Camilla are very happy to announce the arrival of the latest bevy of youngsters.

They have produced the largest number of cygnets so far with a grand total of eight.

A very big thank you to all the people who turned out, in variable weather conditions to support our open day, We had over a hundred visitors and raised £575, exceeding all expectations.

It wouldn’t have been possible without the support and efforts of my dedicated volunteers who did a stirling job, so very big thanks in no particular order to Lynda(Sales and marketing), Augustine(Traffic control), Jill(Catering), Bryan(Traffic control), Alison(Multi tasking), Phil(Multi tasking), Brian(Moth man), Jacqui(Catering), Ron (Beekeeper), Tom(Beekeeper), David(Bird ringer), Caroline(Bird ringer), Jane(Bird ringer), and Jenny(Bird ringer). Last but not least thank you to ‘the boss’ Libby, my long suffering better half.

I hope all those that visited had an enjoyable time.