Nice Day on the River

I've come to believe that the state of  Autumn in England is that it's not so much a question of "if" it will rain, but rather "when" and "how much".  Naturally, my first task in the morning is to check outside the window to see if the pavement is wet or dry.  As you might expect, it's usually wet.  This morning was no different, but by the time I was ready to head out the door,  it was really turning in to a lovely day.

With camera in hand, I headed down the river walk toward work.  As readers of the blog know well, I've been fascinated by the Cathedral.  This wall seems quite ancient:

It's the precinct wall of the Cathedral.  The archeologists label it as medieval, but acknowledge it probably pre-dates the 13th century.  It's a rather intriguing bit of architecture.

I've noticed repairs on this column almost since the first day I walked the river.

I've watched the young mason who's been working on this since early September.  There's still work to do, but he's making progress.

I'm always surprised by what I "see" when I have my camera handy.  I hadn't noticed this before:

"S" for Severn.

I've also seen cygnets:

Today the swans seemed to be swimming in formation with the cygnets at the head of the line.

I sometimes get the impression that the swans see me coming and expect a treat.

It seemed they caught on fairly quickly that I had nothing to offer them.  Within a short time, I noticed some swan behavior I hadn't seen previously.

A number of birds started biting on other birds' necks.  They seemed to be admonishing the birds for something.  Within a few minutes there were five or six swans biting other swans.  Frankly, it was a little creepy.  I read up a bit on swans and learned that swans' eggs hatch from May to July.  Once the cygnet is sufficiently mature, the "parents" (who mate for life) will nudge the cygnet away--perhaps that's what I was observing.  I also learned that swans have quite a few natural enemies.  Their eggs and young swans are also susceptible to magpies.

The swans are also at risk from herons and foxes.  I've seen the former, but not the latter.  Foxes are indeed wily, but I had no idea herons could be murderous.  I hope the sanctuary is efficacious in protecting swans.  They really are beautiful creatures.  I saw one flying over the river last week.  Unfortunately I couldn't get out my camera fast enough to capture the image.

The Queen claims mute swans along a stretch of the Thames.  There's an annual census of swans called "The Upping."