The swans of Grahame Park

I walked through the bit of green ground beside Grahame Park estate this evening. It's always remarkably verdant, thronging with litter, birdlife, and locals throwing bread at them.

There is a small, dirty but deep pond which at some point someone has stocked with wildfowl, perhaps more in hope than expectation. The point is that, unlikely as the setting is, the wildfowl have decided to stay. There are coots sitting on their little nests jutting up out of the water, ducks roosting on the banks, inevitably many crows and pigeons, occasionally flocks of gulls wheeling about, but, best of all, a pair of swans with three handsome cygnets in tow gliding serenely along.

It gladdens the heart!