Right, i was out today, messing about on the river and a little kid was trying to coax a conversation out of a swan with a big stick, of course his mother stepped in with the old cliche:
'Dont do that dear, he can break your arm with his wing!'
This, of course, got the old mind racing as to how this was discovered. So i thought i'd ask my fellow prooners, do you know anyone, know of anyone or know of anyone who knows of anyone (etc) who has ever had their arm broken by a swan?
Many years ago whilst I was taking flying lessons (never did finish, must get back to it!), I was with an instructor at 5,000 ft. doing a clearing turn before a stall / spin exercise, and as I leant forward to look up above us (Cessna 150) there was a pair of swans in very close formation crossing above us, easily another 4 -500ft. up, going like the clappers! 'Structor saw them, too. Wonderful sight.
A ficticious, but typical, admission of human nature that a mother should admonish her child for attacking a swan with "Don't do that, it'll break yer arm with it's wing !".
As opposed to "Don't do that, you'll break it's wing with yer stick !"
Apologies, bit of a rush of blood there. As you were.
When I was staying in the docklands there was a lovley little pond with a huge swan which made it it's home, I used to feed it bread almost everyday to the point where it would eat out of my hand and one time the f ing git bit me on the wrist and it was bloody sore! I was ready for breaking its f ing neck!
My Swans have had thre sprogs this year, they did not breed last year because the lake was broken. I agree, The Swan is the most beautiful of mother natures creations, to see the flying and landing in formation is breathtaking,their takeoffs need some work though.
'Dont do that dear, he can break your arm with his wing!'
Utter nonsense, apparently.
I once had to rescue a swan from a canal and - being somewhat apprehensive - called up a vet at the RSPB to ask advice on how to approach it.
He told me that the commonly-heard stuff about the power of swans' wings is a load of old bollox and that, although the wingtips can give you a fair old slap around the face if you're in the wrong place, they simply not strong enough to break your arm.
In the end this particular swan didn't give me any problem. Except that it was unbelievably farkin heavy.
I understand that once you have tasted Swan you'll never forget it..........but I don't know if that is because it is pleasant or disgusting? Anyone tried Swan meat?
P.S. Swan lager is quite tasty though the similarity in colour to Swan p*ss causes concern.
From the Grauniad Unlimited (I'm not a reader, but Googs found it for me)
Q: "We eat chickens, ducks and geese, but how come swans evade our dinner plates?" L.J. Lev, Yellowknife, Canada
A: "Because they belong to the monarch. Get caught with a roast swan in your oven and the penalty is no doubt of a medieval nature. " Mark Power, Dublin Ireland
We have mute swans in the US, brought over from dear olde England for the fancy pants mansions. Now they breed like rats and drive indiginous (sp) waterfowl out of the best habitat. We can't hunt them but fish and wildlife addels the swan eggs to try and control the population. I thing we ought to have a hunting season or two and see if that brings the population into line. Unless you boys want to fly over and take them all back home
We did kill a swan once a couple of years ago, in an 'Eight', off a racing start, doing about 40 strokes a minute, doing perhaps 10 - 15 knots, I was coxing, didn't see the thing until it was too late, not that I could have done anything if I had seen it earlier anyway. The doomed creature swam out to the side of the boat, just as the bowman's blade was accelerating towards it, got hit in the neck with the end of the shaft...sent a massive shudder through the boat, we stopped to recover the critter and it were dead .... answer being if your a 15 KG swan don't mess with a ~ 1,000 KG boat, particularly a bit that is doing about 50 knots at the time!
Are swans really what they're cracked up to be?
ing git bit me on the wrist and it was bloody sore! I was ready for breaking its f
.... answer being if your a 15 KG swan don't mess with a ~ 1,000 KG boat, particularly a bit that is doing about 50 knots at the time!
