asphodel

 

Relaxing at lakeside with the new Mark Steyn book.

It's a light hearted little number called: The World Is ****ed And You're All Gonna Die."

A bit rose tinted compared to his usual stuff.

Maybe the old guy is losing it.

At the roadside I can see XT and Bob, the two Papa swans, fighting.

Their fight is like nothing so much as a 19th century five step waltz, all courtly delicatesse and nothing you could recognise as aggression unless you knew what they were about.

They approach each other warily like two gallant cavaliers.

There can be a bit of sidling aleft and aright in the approach.

They come nose to nose, or chest to chest really, as their heads are held back close to the body and the chest is thrust forward.

They do not jostle.

They just stand there.

Then one turns aside.

The other may briefly press his chest against the turned bird's flank or not.

Then they each retreat a few steps and repeat the process.

This goes on until one retreats decisively and does not renew the approach.

A woman from an Animal Rescue group told me a while ago that swans can be savage fighters but I've been watching these two for a year and there doesn't look to be much badness in it.

Of course it can't be a whole lot of fun for Bob, for whatever way swans assess victory in these things, Bob always loses and retreats back across the road to the smaller lake.

XT first drove him off the middle lake last year and things have stayed that way since then.

XT had raised his own family last year on the third lake but decided around mid Summer that he needed two lakes to do the job right.

He's quite insistent on that point.

He will not let Bob's family onto the middle lake.

There's a curious qualifier to the rule in that he doesn't seem to ever directly challenge Grace,  Bob's mate.

He won't let her onto the lake but he won't approach her to fight either.

A week ago, Grace arrived with the five kids and no Bob, holding off at a little distance, and XT actually let her stay on the grass unchallenged not so far from lakeside while remaining between her and the lake itself.

So he didn't actually challenge the female swan and she didn't actually try to force her way onto the water.

When Bob arrived, there was no such give and take. XT squared up to him at once, they did the ritual dance fight, and Bob and family soon retreated across the road to the first lake.

The sun is westering.

These days are a bit too warm for me.

But how beautiful life is.