A feathered friend




      This cygnet followed me around wherever I fished last week. No matter where I settled on the bank he'd soon arrive and stare.
      I suspect that mum and dad have kicked him out of the nest to fend for himself and he needed some company. I couldn't persuade him to leave and finally, having given up trying to move him on, he just settled down and preened himself for a couple of hours, moving every time I moved.
      I half expected him to be on the front passenger seat in the car after I'd packed up but he just sailed serenely away into the dusk looking for pastures new.
      The most docile and polite swan I've ever come across and not such an ugly duckling after all.