Legless' thieving goose story reminded me
of the time we (nearly) saw a swan attack.

Outside the office was a canal, with the banks "gentrified" when the shiny new offices were built. Inhabiting the canal were various kinds of duck, and a pair of swans.

We had watched the swans building a nest and were looking forward to the hatching of the cygnets.

So this one day, the landscape guys are out tidying up the banks, and pulling assorted crap out of the canal. They were wearing waders, not chest waders, but thigh waders. They were working opposite sides of the canal and we watched as one of them got closer and closer to the swans' nest. (We weren't exactly busy that day.)

Eventually, he got that wee bit too close to the nest, and big daddy swan (yes, I know, it's called a cob, but we always called him big daddy swan) objected. I mean, he really, really objected.

He chased the poor guy, neck stretched out at full length, wings flapping like fury, beak going mental. There's the poor gardener, thigh waders seriously impeding his escape, belting along as fast as he could go, and safely behind triple glazed windows were half a dozen office working pissing themselves laughing.

The chase ended when he jumped into the works' van and closed the door, red faced and knackered. The cob folded his wings neatly, and calmy returned to the nest, his walk even more of a proud strut than usual.

Swan 1 - Gardener 0
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Sun 27 Apr 2008, 12:30, Reply)