Happy New Year and welcome back to the gardener's blog. The college has reopened its doors today following the Christmas and New year shut down and, whilst the gardening team were enjoying their well earned break, the swans have been making the headlines in the local newspaper.
On the 23rd December, just a few days after the college closed, one of the swans was hit by a vehicle out on Beaumont Street just outside the college entrance. A specialist swan unit was called to assist the injured bird before they took it away to be checked out by a vet.
(For the newspaper article and the full story of the accident see the link below).
Bobbies on the beat step in to save intrepid swan in Oxford
For those of you who have been reading the blog over the years you may
recall the sad story of the pair of swans last year, see blog entry for
26th August
'A Tragic End For The Pair Of Mute Swans'
advising of the death of the female. On the 21st October the remaining
swan paired up with a new partner and they have been on the lake ever
since until the new swan was involved in this accident, a futher tragic
end to the story, maybe? (For the ending to the story on the 29th December, see the link below)
Following its rescue and treatment the swan has been sexed as a male, a cob, and named Chris, which has lead to more questions and possible answers to the lack of fertilised eggs over the last four years. Since 2012, when the two swans on the lake paired up it was obviously belived that it was a male and female pairing, but when one of the swans died in August it was sexed as a female which would leave a male on the lake. However the new swan has been sexed a male which means that the new pair is male/male? Ali likes to think that the previous pair was, more likely, female/female, hence the reason for the eggs never being fertilised and the new pair is one of the remaining female from the original pair and the new male, cygnets this year, only time will tell if Ali's theory is correct and a truly happy ending to the story of the Worcester College swans.
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