Sunday 23rd February

Sunshine & Wintry showers. 3/7/3c. W3-5

F&C CANAL (Ruchill St > Lock 27)

A bit of an eventful start to our walk. We`d just got onto the canal when we saw a pair of Mute Swans close into the edge of the bank acting quite strange. Closer inspection revealed the male of the pair violently attacking another male Mute Swan. Obviously the other male had swam onto the territory of the pair. This bird was tucked up into the bank and was quite distressed and unable to get away. So, i gave Linda my phone to call Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue while i did my best to keep the aggressive bird away from the other one. Luckily i didnae have to keep this up for too long as someone from Hessilhead was with us within 20 minutes. The bird was lifted out from the edge of the canal with ease as it was so exhausted from the attack and the lady (Kirsty) said from the way the bird was breathing she could tell it had water on the lungs as a result of the other male trying to drown it. Thankfully it was safely bagged up and taken off to Hessilhead for treatment.

So, we were able to continue on our walk, which provided the following highlights ;

Cormorant 7 (5 River Kelvin)

Grey Heron 1

Common Buzzard 1

Kingfisher 1

Raven 2 (over Dawsholm Park)

Fox 3