Of sound and cygnets

Since I gave you only a brief offering yesterday, here's something more expansive.

When I first saw the Swans and some whitish blobs and scattered feathers, I assumed the worst. But as I watched, one of the blobs started to move and I realised they were babies. I'm not sure if three or four, but I am still disconcerted by the scattered feathers behind them.

As I was standing there, I heard a cacophony of Crows - for the second time on this run. One of the caws seemed different and I wondered if a juvenile - maybe a first flight with the parents? There were, on both occasions Crows together (three the first time and then two). Later I saw a young Crow - there were three together but two flew away and the third just walked along the track.

Then I saw that he couldn't fly - just flapped and fluttered. Two people were coming up behind me and I stopped to wait. Eventually the Crow managed to fly up to the hedge where he sort of sank into the vegetation. I was still worried, but it turned out that the man also likes Crows a lot and he said that if he could fly into the hedge, he would be OK. I hope so.

Before the Crow hullabaloo, I heard a Deer barking. I thought it was a Muntjac, but when I came round the corner I saw what looked more like a Roe Deer youngster. She disappeared into the tall grass and wildflowers.

Then I came upon this smart chap.

This, according to a great resource, is a Drinker Moth. Or will be.

The little fella was pretty feisty!

But the thrills were not over.

I came to a piece of woodland that I usually do not explore and heard a whole series of strange noises.

In this first video I was attempting to capture the sound of barking squirrels. There is also a deer calling and a lot of birds.

I saw the squirrels chasing each other... I don't know if they were fighting or mating. One came close to where I was standing and made an incredibly odd noise - more of a moan... And then started up with a kind of bark and whistle which you can hear if you spool to 51 seconds into this very bad video.

It turns out that squirrels do make a load of different sounds - which, combined with their tail signals, give them a complex communication system. If you download the moan sound, you can hear something akin to what is on the awful video.

I went into this wood, where I had never been, and did see the squirrels chasing each other. It's another little forgotten haven.

Then I heard the most persistent cheep ever. I looked where it was coming from and saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker looking at me - she was about to feed her brood but couldn't because I'd seen her.

Yes, after this I left the wood.

What a day.