Five little cygnets

30 Saturday May 2026

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, cygnets, Mute swan, Mute swan cygnets

I’ve never really understood how anyone, let alone a talented writer like Hans Christian Andersen, could label a cygnet an ‘ugly duckling’. In my opinion, there is nothing even remotely ugly about a cygnet; it is the very embodiment of cute.

These five very young cygnets were with their Mute swan parents, pottering along the water’s edge where the River Ely flows in to the western edge of Cardiff Bay, and watching them certainly brightened up a very dull, grey, occasionally wet day. I hope you enjoy this massive dose of cuteness as much as I did.

Spring is in the air

17 Saturday Jan 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, mating Mute swans, Mute swan

It may be the middle of winter but today was a magnificent blue-sky day with real warmth in the sunshine and a high temperature hovering very close to double figures.

This gave me, and many other people I’m sure, the idea that Spring was in the air. And, when I walked across Cardiff Bay Barrage this morning, I noticed that the weather was making this pair of Mute swans feel rather frisky.

When I first spotted them, they were indulging in a lot of synchronised grooming, constantly ducking their heads under the water before cleaning and preening their feathers, rubbing their heads and necks together. Having watched this behaviour in many species of birds over the years, I was fairly sure this was going to lead to something more intimate, and I was right.

And, though mating amongst water fowl always looks like the female is going to drown under the weight of her mate and with her head forced under the water, these beautiful birds are always very tender with each other before and after the actual event. It may be a bit voyeuristic but their mating is a lovely thing to watch.

Cygnet cuteness

30 Friday May 2025

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff's canals, cygnets, Mute swan, Mute swan cygnets

I had to go in to Cardiff today so I included a walk through ‘Little Venice’, the small network of canals south of the city centre. When I turned the first corner, this lovely family of Mute swans came immediately in to view – two adults and their six adorable cygnets.

Sometimes these canals are full of rubbish but, fortunately for the wildlife, it seemed much cleaner today – perhaps the local river-cleaning volunteer group have been busy.

As the canals have footpaths along both sides and are frequently used by pedestrians, the wildlife gets used to humans, and these adult swans were obviously used to people. They swam over to me, looking for food, and I was happy to oblige with some of the suet pellets I usually carry, though I was pleased to see that the cygnets remained wary and stuck to a vegetarian diet.

Eight cygnets

18 Saturday May 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, cygnets, Mute swan, Mute swan cygnets

I’ve been watching this pair of Mute swans from the time they first started building their nest, in exactly the same spot as last year, and I spotted a couple of tiny fluffy heads about a week ago. When I passed the location today, mum, dad and their eight gorgeous cygnets were out for a swim around their river inlet.

240518 8 cygnets (1)

The word cute is much overused when it comes to baby birds, but these cygnets really were the epitome of cute, preening and tidying their baby feathers, diving and splashing about enthusiastically.

240518 8 cygnets (2)

Nest-building

05 Friday Apr 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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birding, birds building nests, birds in nests, birdwatching, British birds, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Mute swan, Sand martin

When I spotted this Great crested grebe hauling a long piece of reed towards a potential nesting place, near where yesterday’s grebes had been mating (though not necessarily the same pair as there are several in that area), it occurred to me to wonder which usually comes first with birds, the nest-building or the mating? Maybe it’s a combination of both?

240405 nestbuilding GCG

There’s certainly a lot of nest-building going on at the moment – as well as that grebe, recent sightings have included a Moorhen, Sand martins checking out nest holes in one of Cardiff Bay’s old docks, and a Mute swan already sitting but still busily adding to and tidying her nest.

240405 nestbuilding moorhen 240405 nestbuilding sand martin 240405 nestbuilding swan

Lovey-dovey swans

17 Saturday Feb 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds

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bird courtship, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Mute swan, Spring is in the air, swan courtship

Spring is definitely in the air, according to these Mute swans. Though male swans can be quite brutal when competing for their chosen female, I saw none of that while watching these two, despite them being surrounded by a flock of other swans. The pair were gentle, their movements graceful and coordinated, and it was really rather lovely.

Seven

11 Saturday Nov 2023

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Bay birding, cygnets, Mute swan, Mute swan cygnets

This was the scene earlier today in Cardiff Bay, a glorious morning for mother (or father) Mute swan to take their seven cygnets for a glide along the edge of the Barrage.

231111 seven cygnets

Cygnets

06 Saturday Aug 2022

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, cygnet, Mute swan, Mute swan cygnets

Cygnet. It’s an unusual word, a strange combination of letters, so I checked the Oxford Dictionary for its origin: ‘Late Middle English from Anglo-Norman French cignet, diminutive of Old French cigne ‘swan’, based on Latin cycnus, from Greek kuknos‘.
The Mute swan cygnets below are some of this year’s fledglings in Cardiff Bay. They’re now mostly living independently from their parents, though still like to keep close company with their siblings.

220806 cygnets

Watching you watching me

05 Saturday Feb 2022

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birds, Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve, Mute swan, swan

The pair of Mute swans that reside in the pond at the Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve are always on the lookout for food. No pressure, but that stare!

220205 swan

Nine ‘ugly ducklings’

10 Monday May 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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baby birds, birding, birdwatching, British birds, cygnets, Mute swan, swan with cygnets, Ugly duckling fairytale

Seeing these gorgeous little balls of fluff made my day! I’d been watching these Mute swans for several weeks, building their nest, then sitting on eggs, so it was a real delight to see the proud parents gently shepherding their newly hatched brood around a local river inlet on Thursday.