The English are proud to be eccentric. One of their eccentricities is that swans belong to the ruler of England. There even exist a Royal Swanmaster who counts and weighs the Swans on the Thames every year together with the companies of the Dyers and Vintners. Since the middle ages, swans were endangered because they were a valuable commodity which nobility traded among themselves. They were asked for because of their tender meat and soft feathers. For the royal Christmas banquet at York 1251, 125 swans were slaughtered. To save swans from extinction they were put by law under royal protection in 1482. At the same time, they became a symbol of English royalty. Even today Swans are given away as a present by the Swanmaster in the name of the Queen. Unfortunately, we didn’t get such a present from the Queen. So we are refused to taste tender swan-meat. Did you ever eat swan-meat?
Engländer sind bekannt für Skurrilitäten. Eine davon ist, dass Schwäne der Königin oder dem König gehören. Es gibt sogar einen königlichen Schwan-Hüter, der zusammen mit Mitgliedern der Gilden der Färber und Weinhändler die Schwäne auf der Themse jährlich zählt und wiegt. Schwäne waren spätestens seit dem Mittelalter gefährdet als ein wertvolles Gut, mit dem die Adeligen untereinander handelten. Wegen ihres zarten Fleisches und der weichen Federn waren sie begehrt. Beim königlichen Weihnachtsfest 1251 zu York wurden 125 Schwäne geschlachtet. Um die Schwäne vor dem Aussterben zu schützen, wurden sie 1482 gesetzlich unter königlichen Schutz gestellt und zugleich als Symbol des englischen Königshauses stilisiert. Noch heute verschenkt der Schwan-Aufseher Schwäne im Namen der Königin. Uns hat die Königin leider noch keinen Schwan geschenkt, so durften wir nicht das berühmt zarte Fleisch genießen. Habt Ihr schon Schwanenfleisch probiert?
For Bookfayries swans are magnificent. That’s partly because of their size and that we can hardly imagine how such big birds are able to fly. Also, we find their pure white colour fascinating (in middle Europe we mostly see mute swans). In our fairy-school, we learned that swans next to one kind of pelican (sorry, we forgot the name) are the biggest aquatic birds which moved from the Palaearctic to middle Europe. We were stunned that they weight up to 15 kg. Because of their size and colour, they became a symbol of beauty, purity and elegance.
Auch wir finden, Schwäne sind beachtliche Vögel. Das liegt zum einen an ihrer Größe. Wir können uns kaum vorstellen, dass so ein massives Tier fliegen kann. Zum anderen fasziniert, dass ausgewachsene Schwäne in unseren Breiten (die meisten sind Höckerschwäne) rein weißes Gefieder aufweisen. Wir lernten kürzlich in der Feenschule, dass die Schwäne neben einer Pelikanart, deren Namen wir vergessen haben, zu den größten Wasservögeln gehören, die vom Rande der Arktis aus sich über Mitteleuropa verbreiteten. Stellt euch vor, sie können bis zu 15 kg wiegen. Wegen ihrer ansehnlichen Größe und rein weißen Farbe wurden sie zu einem Symbol der Schönheit, Reinheit und Eleganz.
Swans are symbolizing light and seen as messengers from other worlds for the Celts as well as for all old European tribes. Therefore it was forbidden to eat them. The royal protection of the English and Welsh swans may go back to this old taboo. We Bookfayries find this taboo understandable because in fairy tales and legends swans are often bewitched siblings or other beloved people.
Bei den Kelten und fast allen alten europäischen Völkern galt der Schwan wegen seiner Farbe als Symbol des Lichts und Bote aus einer anderen Welt. Er durfte deswegen nicht gegessen werden. Als Nachklang davon empfinden wir, dass bei uns in England alle Schwäne der Königin oder dem König gehören und nicht geschlachtet werden dürfen. Ob das auch daran liegt, dass in Märchen und Sagen die Schwäne oft verzauberte Geschwister oder andere geliebte Menschen sind?
Swans are mysterious. This mystery fascinated Richard Wagner. In his opera “Lohengrin” it’s not allowed to ask the Knight of the Swan (Lohengrin) of his identity. We Bookfayries can understand this well. The identity of the Knight of the Swan is puzzling us too. On one hand, he is the son of Parzival and Condwiramur as told by Wolfram von Eschenbach, on the other hand, he is Elyas the grandfather of Gottfried of Bouillon, the commander of the first crusade. Anyway, all these ideas came to us from the Orient and as we all know the Orient is mysterious.
Irgendwie finden wir, sind die Schwäne geheimnisvoll. Dieses Geheimnis hat Wagner fasziniert, wenn in seiner Oper “Lohengrin” der Schwanenritter nicht nach seiner Identität gefragt werden darf. Dies hat uns arme Buchfeen verwirrt, denn einmal ist Lohengrin der Sohn Parzivals und Condwiramurs, wie uns Wolfram von Eschenbach berichtet, zum anderen ist er Elyas, der Großvater Gottfried von Bouillons, des Heerführers des ersten Kreuzzuges. Naja, wie dem auch sei, alle diese Vorstellungen sind vom Orient in unsere Kultur eingeflossen. Wie wir alle wissen ist und bleibt der Orient für uns geheimnisvoll.
The swan has high prestige in England not only as of the Queen’s bird but also in literature. For Milton, Wordsworth, Browning and Keats the swan epitomises purity and innocence. We Bookfayries, our dear Dina and Master don’t agree 100%. For us, swans rather represent elegance and dignity. This corresponds with the ideas of alchemist transfiguration. In the highly metaphoric language of the alchemists, the swan symbolizes the whitening (albedo) which is the end of the alchemical process when life defeats death.
William Bake, the English poet, painter and engraver, presents the mute swan in his illuminated text “Jerusalem” as a picture of all creative energies, therefore, he painted the swan with breasts. Well, everything is symbolic …
In England genießt der Schwan nicht nur als Vogel der Königin, sondern auch in der Literatur hohes Ansehen. Milton, Wordsworth, Browning und Keats sahen den Schwan als Verkörperung von Reinheit und Unschuld. Wir Buchfeen und Masterchen und Dina sehen ihn zwar nicht unbedingt genauso, stattdessen eher als ein Bild der Eleganz und irgendwie auch der Würde. Das entspricht den Wandlungsvorstellungen der Alchimie, in denen der Schwan die Weißung, die Albedo, ausdrückt. Er ist das Element, das sich vom Tod (Nigredo) erhebt und somit am Ende des alchimistischen Prozesses steht, an dem das Leben den Tod besiegt.
Der englische Dichter, Maler und Kupferstecher William Blake sieht in seinem illuminierten Text „Jerusalem“ den weißen Schwan als Bild der schöpferischen Energien in der Welt an, deswegen stellt er den Schwan weiblich mit Brüsten dar – naja, Symbolik über alles …
We admit we are afraid of swans who can distress little Bookfayries like all geese. When Dina tries to attract swans to photograph them we prefer standing in the background behind our dear Master. But we love to see pictures of swans. We hope you do as well.
Wir müssen zugeben, dass wir auch Angst vor Schwänen haben, die wie alle Gänsevögel uns kleine Buchfeen arg in Bedrängnis bringen können. Wenn unsere liebe Dina sie anlockt und fotografiert, halten wir uns lieber mit Masterchen im Hintergrund. Aber die Bilder von Schwänen zu betrachten lieben wir. Wir hoffen, Ihr auch.
Warm greetings from the cold sea
Mit lieben Grüßen vom herbstlichen Meer
Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma
© Text and illustrations, Hanne Siebers and Klausbernd Vollmar, Cley next the Sea, 2019
And Taleb wrote about the Black swan… Thanks for the post. Tschüss, cheers and all that
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Thank you very much for commenting 🙂 🙂
The black swan has a different meaning in symbolism as the white mute swan. It’s often connect with death, with the alchemist nigredo, and sometimes with evil and chaos.
Is it Nassim Nicholas Taleb who wrote about the black swan? Unfortunately, we haven’t read any text of him.
Wishing you a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Interesting symbolism. Thank you.
Yes, that Taleb. The book is interesting. Read it a few years ago, might go back to it, to read it in today’s different perspective.
Tschüss.
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Thank you very much 🙂
Tschüss
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Lovely photos.
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Dear Fraggle,
thank you very much for liking Dina’s photos 🙂 🙂
Wishing you a pleasant weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Such glorious photographs. Who could eat such a lovely bird – t would be sacrilege to do so.
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Great that you like Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂
In the olden times it was seen as a sacrilege to eat swan meat. Actually, we have never seen it offered. So the old taboo is still quite strong.
Have an easy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Fantastic.
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Thanks a lot, ear Rabirius 🙂 🙂
Have a GREAT weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Fab Four of Cley,
I have always thought of the swan as appearing dignified and graceful and never even thought about how they would taste for dinner. 🙂 Dina did a wonderful job on catching their image. Her ability to catch the swan in mid-takeoff, plus a reflection in the pond, is amazing!
I hope you are all looking forward to the holiday season that seems to racing toward us at the speed of light! I recently purchased 2 Norfolk Pines and 2 dieffenbachia (both already decorated) to help brighten up my small home. (I know I’m drastically early, but they were available and so cute – I couldn’t resist.
Take care and enjoy you weekend!
GP Cox
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Dear GP Cox,
wow, Norfolk Pines find their way to you. Shall we tell you a secret? At least in North Norfolk, where we live, there are hardly any trees. Especially Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma love decorated trees. They have read your text and now we have get at least one decorated tree for our living room – “right NOW!” says Selma.
Dina was with us at a little lake near a romantic country house not far from our house to shoot this photographs.
Wishing you all the best and have a happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I am thrilled I inspired the Bookfaryies to decorate a tree, now so early in the holiday season. I’ll bet no one can look at your tree and NOT smile!!
ENJOY! You made my day!!
GP Cox
🙂 🙂 🙂
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Our dear friend,
actually, Dina and I think that Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma love to make our visitors smile.
With lots of love and golden fairy dust
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I knew they would. Siri and Selma are role models for their generation!!
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don’t make them too proud 😉
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Too late, Klausbernd. They’re intelligent because of you and Dina and they know it!!
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well …
indeed, they know it that they are our beloved clever Bookfayries
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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🙂 🙂
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Liebe Hanne, das sind Fotos der Spitzenklasse, welch ein Genuss!!!
Dank auch an dich, lieber Klausbernd für dein Wissenswertes dazu, manches habe ich gewußt, manches nicht, auf jeden Fall teile ich eure Faszination, aber ein bisschen Schiss habe ich auch vor diesen großen Vögeln, ich halte lieber Distanz.
Herzliche Grüße
Ulli
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Guten Tag, liebe Ulli,
wow, hier ist gestern voll der Herbst ausgebrochen, mit Sturm, Regen und Kälte. Es ist da soooo gemütlich, drinnen zu sitzen.
Ja, die großen Vögel sind angsteinflößend, wasDaphne du Maurier in ihrer Geschichte “Die Vögel” ausnutzte und damit Hitchcock inspirierte, ihren Text zu verfilmen. Wir mussten früher, wenn wir zum Hafen hinausfuhren, mit unserem Boot stets nahe an zwei Schwänen vorbeifahren, was uns immer ein mulmiges Gefühl bescherte.
Herzliche Grüße vom rauen Meer und vielen Dank fürs Kommentieren
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Lovely photos, Dina. The large pelican I believe is the Albatross. I’m like you Bookfayries when it comes to geese. I have been chased and bitten many times.
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Thank you very much, dear John.
Geese can be quite a pain, can’t they?
Wishing you an easy and happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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😊
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I say, dear Fab Four of Cley! What a curious information to ponder upon this Samhain night. As swans connect us with other worlds, what relationship do they have with the queen Titania? To eat swans is a crazy idea!
Thanks for this wonderful post! Have a nice swan week-end!
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Thank you very much for commenting 🙂 🙂
Titania means in Greek the big one and isn’t the swan the big one of the European birds? The myths are sure that swans make the contact between Titania’s and our world.
We have to admit, we find it a crazy idea to eat swans as well. Actually, we always thought they would taste foul. We don’t know why.
We wish you a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Oh, well… The British! Fried swans, tea with milk! I got! Swans will join Titania’s celebration on the eve of Samhain! Great to hear that! Thank you, dear messengers of the Fairy world! 🙂
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You are VERY welcome
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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The photos are beautiful. I don’t see swans very often, but I always try to stop and get a picture of them. This was interesting information you presented here. I like watching birds on the water, even geese.
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Hi, dear Dan,
we have quite a lot of swans here at the North Norfolk coast. Especially, we love it when they are flying over the marshes and our heads.
Thanks for your comment.
Wishing you a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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The most magical of photos! I can picture the Book Fairies gliding along on the backs of these magnificent creatures. Or maybe a fluffy cygnet would be less intimidating? Best regards to your happy family 🙂 🙂
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Dear Jo,
indeed, our beloved Bookfayries love the fluffy cygnets 🙂 🙂 Actually, you gave them the idea of gliding alongs on their backs. They say “Thank you very much!”
Thanks for liking Dina’s photography.
Best regards to you as well, wishing you a relaxed weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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🤗🦢🦢💕
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Dear Jo,
we are so excited, we can’t tell. You showed us that there exist swan 🦢🦢🦢emojis we didn’t know. Oh dear …
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I looked for cygnets. Best I could do 😔💔
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🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Incredibly beautiful! Wonderful photos.
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Thank you 🙂 🙂
Happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Blessings! 🌏🙂
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🦢🦢🦢
💃🚶♂️👭
🙏🙏🙏🙏
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“In the highly metaphoric language of the alchemists, the swan symbolizes the whitening (albedo) which is the end of the alchemical process when life defeats death.” Then at the latest with the discovery of the first black swan, alchemy also found its justified end 🙂
Grüße hinauf zum kleinen Dorf am Meer.
Achim
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Lieber Achim,
da hast du wohl recht, allerdings in der esoterischen Sprache der Alchimie tritt der schwarze Schwan – unserer Kenntnis nach – nicht auf. Aber wer sieht schon sein Ende …
Liebe Grüße down south zur Stadt der Bächle
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Wow! Amazing pics 🙂
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Thanks, dear Annica
have a happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Oh Hanne! Your photographs are simply exquisite, ethereal, as if they are born out of a mist. Mythology at its finest. As I was reading your post, I was reminded of one of my most favorite Hans Christian Anderson’s tale, “The Ugly Duckling” a story about an unhappy, homely little bird born in a barnyard. Because this little bird was different, others who were all “the same’ abused and ostracized him. I remember that, as a child, I was in tears until, to my delight, the little bird matures into a beautiful swan, the most beautiful bird of all. What a celebration for me and a profound memory that continues to remind me to avoid mediocrity and seek the best of possibilities. Much love and many, many hugs coming to my dear friends, the Fab Four of Cley.
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Good afternoon, dear Rebecca Clanmother,
thanks for mentioning this literary fairy tale. The story of The Ugly Duckling moved us very much as well. And then our dear Master told us that this is Andersen’s story too. He was very ugly and not only that, he had also a kind of ugly behaviour. The romantic authors of his times did everything to avoid contacting him as you couldn’t get rid of him. But we love his literary fairy tales. We prefer those literary fairy tales of the romantic poets to Grimm’s collection.
Wishing you and your family a very happy weekend and thanks for commenting
hugs & kisses
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I did not know the background on this the Ugly Duckling – thank you so much. You have inspired me to go back and reread Hans Christian Anderson. There is so much wisdom held in these narratives. Always a joy to come over to your place. I always get a warm welcome when I visit my dear friends, the Fab Four of Cley.
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Dear Rebecca,
with the literary fairy tales the Romantic writers like Andersen, Tieck, Novalis, E.T.A. Hoffmann etc. tried to understand the human psyche. In this respect the Romantic writers were the forerunners of Freud’s theories.
Sometimes our dear Master reads one of those fairy tales in front of fire for us. We love it, especially Ludwig Tieck’s fairy tales.
With lots of love to our dear Canadian friend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I have never ever heard about Ludwig Tieck. As always, you send me scurrying on a journey of discovery. This is what I’ve found so far: http://a.co/bH4phzp. Not certain if the link will work, but just want to add my gratitude for another amazing introduction. Hugs and more hugs!!!!
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Ludwig Tieck was a writer of literary fairy tales and an editor for some of his colleagues. He survived most of the romantic writers and organised their inheritance.
We love most these two literary fairy tales of him:
The Runenberg (The mountain of the runes)
Der blonde Eckbert (The fair Eckbert)
We have no idea if those are translated into English.
The link is right. That’s the Ludwig Tieck we love.
Lots of love & hugs
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Dear Rebecca
have a look at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Tieck
At the end you even find a Canadian edition of his collected works.
Happy reading
xxx
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Thank you! You are the best!!!
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sometimes 😉
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Swans can also be very grumpy, territorial, and often aggressive. It is said that a strike from their wings can break a man’s arm.
Ollie once had a nervous encounter with a group of swans.
https://beetleypete.com/2016/08/11/ollies-mexican-standoff/
But your historical information is to be admired, and Din’a photos are beyond excellent. 🙂
Love from Beetley, Pete and Ollie. X
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Dear Pete,
indeed, swans can be vicious. The Romans had often swans and other geese to guard their property and their dwellings. Those Roman geese saved the Roman republic during the Punic wars 390 BC. Anyway, the swans are far from being harmless and cute.
You might know the place where Dina took those pictures: Holt Hall pond – only a couple of minutes drive inland from where we live.
With warm greetings from the cold sea
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I really liked your post about the many characteristics and symbolic meanings of the swan. The photography with its amazing light effects on the swans also impressed mee very much. Your family-centred blog is a fine example of quality over quantity. Best wishes and kind greetings from Canada!
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Dear Peter,
thank you much for your praise 🙂 🙂 Quality over quantity is exactly our endeavour. And thanks for liking Dina’s photography and our text about the symbolic meaning of swans. The latter was mostly taken from our dear Master’s dictionary of symbols (“Die Welt der Symbole”, 15 ed.).
With lots of love to you and your family.
Have a happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Very informative with fabulous photos to go with it.
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Thanks a lot, dear Anneli 🙂 🙂
Wishing you all the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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You too. Enjoy the weekend!
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🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Stunning Siri and Selma!!!
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Dear Paulo,
THANK YOU SO MUCH 🙂 🙂
We send you finest fairy dust to Portugal
Siri 🙂 & 🙂 Selma
Oh dear, we hope that our dear Master doesn’t notice that we used his notebook.
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Such a prized possession back centuries ago. I find the white Mute Swans exceptionally beautiful in their regal appearance.
We only have black swans here in Australia, but white Mute Swans can be seen in Zoos and other protected areas. I have read that some Australians have seen a white swan and thought it wild, but it would have been brought into the area by man. I love the way the ugly teenage swans develop into such elegant beautiful adults. I have even seen Swan parents give their tiny offspring rides on their backs in the Royal Botanic Garden’s lake. I thought it was a miracle LOL but apparently, that’s what they do when they have a weak cygnet.
That last image of the swan taking off from the water surface is stunning.
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Good afternoon, dear Vicki,
what we wrote about the symbolism of swans only refers to the white mute swan. We have a lot of those swans in our area at the coast but they are still an endangered species as we learned just recently. We have never seen black swans. In symbolism black swans embody death and the end of the world (the nigredo of the alchemists). But that’s their meaning in our culture where white swans are normal. We suppose it will be different in your culture.
Wishing you a great time and all the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I learned a lot that I did not know about swans and royalty and the Celts; always a pleasant experience. Beautiful processing and after the dignity and serenity of all the preceding photos the last photo was a huge amazing surprise that just blew me away. Such a good job!
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Good evening, dear David,
Dina is very happy that you like her photography 🙂 and we are happy as well that you like our text too.
The mute swan is important in the European symbolism. We didn’t mention that he symbolises erotic attraction also. Zeus, the highest Roman god, transformed into a mute swan for making love with Leda. From this connection Helena was born, the most beautiful woman of antiquity incorporating the beauty of the swan.
Our dear Master did write lots of books about symbolism and mythology. We Bookfayries just looked what he wrote about the mute swan – much, much more than we could write here.
Wishing you a happy time and a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Magical images presented here, shot by Hanna, I really enjoyed your posts, something different.
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Hi, dear Cornelia,
GREAT that you like Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂 and enjoyed our post. We had a great time when Dina were shooting these photographs at an old romantic and a little bit spooky country house at this swan lake.
Thanks & wishing you a happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Wundervolle Bilder! Danke! Der Gummischwan meiner Kindheit wurde Fridolin genannt. Es ist mir irgendwann in genletzten Jahren wieder eingefallen, nachdem Eurem letzten Post zu Schwänen. Ich habe damals, vor einigen Jahren, von ihm berichtet. Derjenige welcher am Badewasserofen zerplatzte. Warum er wie ein Clown gerufen wurde, weiss ich nicht. Es kam wohl auch nicht von mir. Wegen des starken Themas in meinem Leben gibt es seit dem Sommer zwei grosse Aquarelle mit Schwan in meinem Zimmer. eines ist die ganze Schönheit des Vogels in der Fläche, das andere schaut auf ein am Boden zusammengerolltes Wesen. Alles in Pastell. Meine neuen Bilder. Symbol für das wir nicht alles wissen – und das in grosser Schönheit. Auf den Gedanken Schwan zu essen käme ich nicht so leicht. Aber bewundern……; meine Mutter hiess Elsa (stimmt wirklich). Euch ein feines Wochenende Ruth
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Liebe Ruth,
Elsa finden wir einen schönen Namen, well, Walt Disney Productions hat die Schneekönigin durch seine haarsträubend hässliche Figur eigentlich beleidigt, “aber von Amerika kommt eh nichts Geschmackvolles” ist Siris 🙂 Kommentar. So etwas wie deinen Gummischwan Fridolin hätten wir Buchfeen auch gerne. Aber dafür haben wir viele echte rein weiße Schwäne.
Den Schwan haben ja viele gemalt, besonders Leda und der Schwan, Michelangelo, Rubens und Freter. Er ist Power und Schönheit, Erotik und Anmut, wenn nicht gar Hochmut.
Danke dir für deinen Kommentar.
Mit den besten Grüßen vom herbstlichen Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Hallo ihr lieben vier,
ihr habt euch sehr rar gemacht in der Bloggerwelt. 😉
Die Fotos von den Schwänen sind sehr gelungen, Hanne. Du hast den Hintergrund nachträglich mit Bildbearbeitung geschwärzt?
Ich wusste nicht, dass Artenschutz schon im 15. Jahrhunder begann.
Viele Grüße vom noch sonnigen Berlin, Susanne
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Hallihallo, liebe Susanne,
naja, wir waren zweimal in Urlaub, einmal an der Südostküste Englands altertümliche Seebäder begucken, zum anderen bergwandern in Nordwales, von wo wir letzte Woche zurückkamen.
Ja, der Artenschutz geht bis in die Renaissance zurück und Naturschutz übrigens noch weiter, bis ins hohe Mittelalter als Friedrich II in Sizilien mit einem Gesetz gegen Gerber der deutschen Nationen die Gewässerreinheit schützte.
Hier ist es jetzt voll herbstlich – endlich. Gutes Timing: Als wir von Wales zurückkamen begann es regnerisch und kühler zu werden. Jetzt wuchert alles im Garten und atmet auf nach dem langen Sommer. Besonders haben wir zur Zeit viele Rosen – und viele Schwäne, die mit ihren Jungen in kleinen Seen plantschen.
Mit den besten Grüßen vom heute rauen Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Interessantes über den königlichen Schwan, das ich noch nicht wusste. Der größte Pelika ist übrigens der Krauskopfpelikan mit rund 1,80 m Höhe, 3,5 m Spannbreite und 12-13 kg Gewicht.
Die Kontraste zwischen weiß und schwarz auf den Bildern sind sehr gut gelungen! LG Simone
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Guten Abend, liebe Simone,
ganz herzlichen Dank für den Hinweis. Der Krauskopfpelikan ist ja viel größer als wir Buchfeen, 1.80m, das ist ja nicht nur beachtlich, sondern auch furchterregend, dazu noch 3.5 m Spannbreite … Wir Buchfeen möchten dem lieber nicht begegnen.
Mit lieben Grüßen vom kleinen Dorf am großen Meer und Dank, dass dir Dinas Bilder gefallen
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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🙂 Traumhafte Fotos!
Schwäne sind wirklich interessante und äußerst schöne Tiere.
Habt ein schönes Wochenende und liebe Grüße aus Wien,
Claudia 🙂
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Guten Abend, liebe Claudia,
was für ein Zufall, wir hatten gerade Besuch von einer Frau aus Wien, die heute morgen abfuhr.
Toll, dass dir Dinas Fotografie gefällt 🙂 🙂
Mit lieben Grüßen vom Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I was only thinking yesterday that I hadn’t seen a post from my favourite four for some time. And then as if by magic, up pops this delight. Oh, Dina, your photos of these magnificent birds are divine. I love swans and used to look out for them on the river in Ludlow where I often came across a family with their fluffy cygnets. I think the most swans I have seen at one time was on the River Coquet in Northumberland where we counted 21. And of course on the River Thames there are many. They are big birds and rather scary, I can understand Siri and Selma giving them a wide berth, though I can also see them nestled in amongst those soft feathers and gliding down the river like the fairy princesses that they are. Like the cygnets I saw riding on the back of their mother in Canberra – a majestic black swan of course – which are smaller than our mute swans. Now I wonder if they are protected?
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Good evening, dear Jude,
we were holidaying and just came back a week ago.
Yes, black swans are protected in Australia as mute swans are in the UK. Black swans are not native and very rare in middle Europe. We have never seen black swans. They were first described by explorers in the 17th c. (on the Swan River – where else? – in Australia).
We have lots and lots of mute swans here. We like seeing them flying over the salt marshes. I suppose on one hand Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma would love to ride on those big birds like Nils Holgerson, on the other hand they are afraid of these huge and powerful birds.
We wish you a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I have see a black swan in England – Hampshire in fact on Frensham Pond. And one in Surrey in Claremont Garden.
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Good morning, dear Jude,
actually, black swans come from Australia. In the UK and middle Europe we have the pure white mute swan. But there are a few black swans in England as well. How they came from Australia to England nobody knows.
What a pity, we never saw black swans. We only read that they are jet-black and smaller than the mute swans.
Thanks for the info 🙂 🙂
Have a happy week to come
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Beautiful images and I would never eat swan meat! There are some ponds near where we live that have a resident swan couple that reside there year after year. But I wonder where they go in the winter?
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Swans are very cold resistant because their original habitat is the palaearctic. Usual they go to the lower coastal regions in winter time. Cold is not their problem but they constantly need open water.
Thanks for liking Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂
Wishing you a great time. With love from the sea
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I have a friend who went to St John’s College Cambridge in the 1970s and he used to describe how, at the annual May Ball, swan was served and consumed by the guests. This no longer happens! See: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/music-meals-and-memories-delving-st-johns-college-may-ball-collection
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Dear Philip,
you are the only one we know who knows someone who has eaten swan meat. Thanks for the link 🙂 🙂
We saw some mute swans in Cambridge which is the next bigger city from where we live except Norwich. At our coast we have lots of mute swans as well, they come done in autumn to stay here during the wintertime, but they are around in summer as well.
Thanks a lot and have a happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thank you for your enchanting post about swans! I was welcomed to my ancestral town of Kelso, Scotland, by a swan: https://mariezhuikov.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/welcomed-by-a-kelso-swan-adventures-in-scotland-part-8/
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Dear Marie,
thank you very much for liking our post and for your link.
We live further south at the east coast in Norfolk and there we have lots of mute swans as well. But they seem to like rather hidden places. We like to see them flying over the salt marshes and hear that whistling sound from their beat of wings and their dramatic starts and landings.
Thank you very much for commenting.
Wishing you a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Dina, I am enjoying your dark backgrounds. They make the swan images very dramatic!
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Thank you very much, dear Peter 🙂 🙂
Those dark backgrounds make the white more white so to speak.
Thank you very much for commenting.
Wishing you all the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Wat een prachtfoto’s van de zwanen en bedankt voor de vele info
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You are very welcome 🙂 🙂
We are happy that you like Dina’s photography.
Wishing you a great time
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Astonishing photographs and fine informative writing–as ever. Thank you for a good read. here is to Swan-dom!
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Dear Cynthia,
`Swan-dom´ – we love it 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks a lot for your comment and for liking Dina’s photography.
Wishing you a happy time
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Captivating and dramatic swan images and the last photo is a thrill. Beautiful post.
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Good morning, dear Jane,
GREAT that you like Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂 and our post. Thank you!
Wishing you a happy week to come
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Swans are beautiful birds and Dina’s glorious photographs have captured that beauty perfectly. Thank you for your interesting and informative post. I don’t think I could bear to eat swan meat; it would be almost a sacrilege, I think. We have many swans living near us on the water meadows of the Waveney river and on the marshes nearer the sea.
Coincidentally, we are going to see ‘Swan Lake’ performed by the Russian National Ballet at the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft on Tuesday.
With very best wishes to you all,
Clare 🙂
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Good morning, dear Clare,
we have a lot of swans at our home at the North Norfolk coast as well. Of course, we live quite near to your home.
Actually, it’s an old sacrilege to eat swan meat. It seems to be a taboo since pre-historic times.
We are a bit jealous that you see `Swan Lake´ and this performed by the Russian National Ballet. We are sure it will be a great experience.
Thanks for commenting 🙂 🙂
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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My pleasure, dear Klausbernd. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thank you very much, Clare. Lucky you to see the ballett on Tuesday. There are still tickets, but unfortunately there are no other dates and we can’t make it on Tuesday, what a pity. I have bookmarked a live view from the Royal Opera House next spring.
I so regret not having seen Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake last year:
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I would love to see Matthew Bourne’s ‘Swan Lake’! What a shame you cannot manage to see the Russian National Ballet.
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😦 😦 😦 😦
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The photos are as beautiful as the creatures themselves. I find the idea of eating these birds very distasteful. 🦢
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Good morning, dear Tanja,
thanks a lot for liking Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂
As we wrote above, eating swans is an ancient powerful taboo which still works.
All the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I love the swan take off photo wish I could get one like that.
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Dear Andy,
we keep our fingers crossed that you will get a great `swan take off photo´ as well. We were for hours at this lake to catch this moment of take off.
Thanks for commenting 🙂 🙂
All the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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What a beautiful and interesting post! Such precious creatures. ❤
The brilliant Swan Lake is the only ballett I have ever seen and your post now inspired me to go hunting for the next performance.
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Dear Sarah,
we don’t know where you live but the next performance of Swan Lake is at Lowestoft next Tuesday by the Russian National Ballet. It’s touring the UK until the 24th Nov.
Thanks for commenting
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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About Black Swans in the UK: there is a colony of Black Swans on the river that flows through the centre of the Devon town of Dawlish and they are a great attraction for tourists.
Also, when I was growing up, many years ago, there were a few black swans on the lake in Poole Park in Dorset. I seem to recall that Churchill had been given some of the birds and he passed on some of these to the park. I have no idea why.
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Good morning, dear Philip,
originally black swans come from Australia. Those black swans in England are originating in Australia as well. How they came to England seems to be a mystery. Anyway, black swans in England are quite an attraction. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen a black swan yet.
Thanks for the info
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Here is the story of the Dawlish black swans: https://dawlish.com/article/details/9
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Thanks a lot, dear Philip 🙂 🙂
Now we know.
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Awesome post, FabFour! You have inspired me to go out with my camera and capture the swans on the lake in the next village.
By the way, a female swan is known as a pen, while a male swan is called a cob. Pen and Cob – sounds lovely, don’t you think?
Wishing you a wonderful Sunday – ours is really sunny after all the rain. 🙂
Jason
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Dear Jason,
Pen & Cob – we agree that sounds lovely.
Here it is sunny and warm as well. We will go out now to have a little walk in the countryside.
Wishing you a happy week to come and thanks for commenting
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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These are gorgeous photos and yes, I do love swans and enjoy watching them.
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Dear Greta,
thanks a lot for commenting and liking Dina’s photography.
We enjoy watching swans as well. Especially in autumn and winter, we have lots of mute swans around.
Wishing you a happy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Are there any foreign equivalents of the English phrase ‘swanning around’, used to describe people who glide in as if they own the place?
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Good morning, dear Dave,
we don’t know this or a similar expression in German or in the Scandinavian languages. We found this about `swaning aroumd´> http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-swa6.htm
In German we use the expression `mir schwant etwas´ if we have a rough idea about something that’s secret. ‘Mir schwant Böses´ we would translate as ´I swear evil´. Especially, Siri 🙂 and our dear Master are very much interested in such metaphors. Thanks a lot!
Wishing you an easy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thanks very much for that link and your other observations. Fascinating stuff – it occurs to me that the aristocratic untouchability of the bird might make the phrase ‘swanning around’ pejorative – we’re renowned for our class consciousness in the UK, after all!
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We absolutely agree, dear Dave,
when we moved from Scandinavia, Germany and Canada over here we were amazed about this old fashioned class society. In the beginning we had to train Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma not to laugh out loudly when we talked to upper-class folks with their funny accent. Actually, we still have a problem not to laugh.
Etymologically seen it seems that `swaning around´ has it origin in the language of military, at least the first known appearance of this phrase was in a military context.
Thanks for your comment.
With greetings from the sunny sea
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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If I may be permitted a political observation, Brexit is nothing new. The toffs have always managed to gull the hoi polloi by stirring up cheap and nasty jingoism. 😦
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Dear Dave,
what a great comment! But we have to admit it took us a while to understand it. Now we love it 🙂 🙂
Wishing yo a great week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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These are fantastic pictures of swans. Swans a beautiful creatures and very graceful. I love them as they are always swimming with their head well up, with good posture. We need to do that too. 🙂
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Good morning, dear Ute,
what a great comment! Thanks a lot.
We love swans very much as well, especially their elegance.
Wishing you an easy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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The photographs are splendid. I particularly was drawn to the last: I can’t remember ever seeing before a reflection of a bird taking off, or reflections of the water drops trailing behind it. It’s a veritable explosion of swan energy.
For three years, a black swan cruised around the lake where I live and work. No one knew where it came from, and no one knows what happened to it, but it was a lovely visitor. I’ve been thinking of how deeply swan symbolism has permeated our culture: the ballet Swan Lake; the Swan’s Down cake flour my grandmother and mother used, with a swan in the logo; the statistician’s recent adoption of ‘black swan’ to refer to an outlier; even the expression “Well, I swan,” where the word ‘swan’ is used in certain areas here as a substitute for the word ‘swear.’
Our fascination with them seems to know no end, even for people who’ve never seen one in the flesh-and-feathers.
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Good morning, dear Linda,
first of all thank you very much for liking Dina’s photography we very much appreciate 🙂 🙂
Black swans originate in Australia and New Zealand and are a different species as our white mute swans but closely related. Black swans one find in Europe are going back to imported swans from down under.
Swans were much liked in heraldry from the Middle Ages onwards symbolising the combination of strength and elegance. On the other hand the swans fly through the world of fairy tales and legends. F.e. in the collection of the Brothers Grimm they are bewitched humans – like in Swan Lake. In the German languages we use the swan as a metaphor as well (as we answered to Dave above).
We had a cake flour called `Schwan im Blauband´ when I was child too. The package showed a white swan (Schwan) printed on a blue ribbon (Blauband). The white of the mute swan symbolising the white of the flour. In the way of analogy the swan is used as metaphor for everything white and pure in most of the European languages.
Wishing you all the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I didn’t realize that schwan translates as ‘swan.’ We have a home food delivery service here that’s been in business for decades. It’s called Schwan’s, and its logo is a stylized swan.
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Thanks, dear Linda
this for the linguistics of the word `swan´:
swan (English) > Schwan (modern High German)
The modern High German `Schwan´ goes back to the Old High German and Proto-Germanic `swan´. In Low German and Dutch it’s `zwaan´ and in the northern Germanic languages like Swedish it’s `swan´. The English `swan´ goes back to the Proto-Germanic `swan´ as well.
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The American Heritage Dictionary traces the word back beyond Germanic, to the Indo-European root swen-, meaning ‘to sound’. That root also gave rise to Latin sonus ‘a sound’ and sonāre ‘to sound’, from whose descendants English has borrowed words like sonnet, sonata, sonic, consonant, and sound itself.
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Dear Steve,
thank you very much. We had a look in our etymological dictionary and found the same: the Indo-European root is swen (Lat. sonus etc.). It’s funny that in the words mute and swan sound and silence meet, isn’t it?
All the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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My dear friends in Cley,
I’m very happy to see that you are blogging again – and what a delightful comeback after your break in Wales. Hanne’s photos are treat for sore eyes. Heartfelt congratulations to her award winnng last year!
It’s interesting to read about the royal connections to the Swan. The other day I was confronted with a medical term called SWAN – ‘syndromes without a name’. It is not a diagnosis, but a term used when a child or young adult is believed to have a genetic condition and testing has failed to identify its genetic cause.
Greetings from sunny and cold Stockholm,
KRAM
Annalena x
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Good morning, dear Annalena,
we are very proud that our dear Dina gets one award after the other for her photos. We can’t a remember a competition she entered in which she didn’t get the first or the second price.
Our dear Master and 🙂 Siri are really interested in the symbolic meaning of the swan. You find it in a lot of coat of arms and town and city arms. Well, since we wrote this text we see swans everywhere. And of course, we have lots of swans living in our area. – This expression SWAN for `syndromes without a name´ we didn’t know. Siri asked the clever question how something can exist for us we can’t name. Well, we gave the unknown the name SWAN and by doing this we stay in the classic metaphor of the swan as a kind of secret. You know the German expression `mir schwant etwas´. Actually the same structure as in the symbolic meaning of the Knight of Swans whose identity is not allowed to be known.
With lots of love to Stockholm from sunny Cley
KRAM xxxx
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Lovely post!!
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Dear Ursel,
thank you very much 🙂 🙂
All the best to you and Herbert
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Hallo Ihr Lieben,
schön wieder von Euch zu lesen und Hanne’s wunderschönen Bilder zu sehen!
Ich verweile gerade in meiner Liebelingsstadt Hamburg. Auf der Alster gibt es sehr viele Schwäne. Als wohl einziges Bundesland hat sich Hamburg etwas besonderes für die Schwäne, welche die Alster bewohnen, einfallen lassen, denn jedes Jahr im November werden die Vögel eingefangen und in ein Winterquartier am Eppendorfer Mühlenteich gebracht. Dort werden sie gefüttert und umsorgt, können in gemäßigten Wassertemperaturen schwimmen und werden im März auf der Alster wieder ausgesetzt.
Liebe Grüße, Jürgen
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Lieber Jürgen,
wir lieben auch Hamburg und Siri 🙂 und 🙂 Selma finden es mit Abstand die schönste Großstadt Deutschlands.
Dass die Schwäne ein warmes Winterlager bekommen, finden wir erstaunlich. Sie gelten nämlich als erstaunlich winterhart. Tiefe Temperaturen, so fand 🙂 Selma heraus, können sie bestens ab, aber sie benötigen unbedingt ständig offenes Wasser. Dennoch finden wir es vorbildlich, wie sich die Hamburger um ihre Schwäne kümmern. Und was wäre ein Spaziergang am Alsterufer ohne die Schwäne im Sommer?
Mit lieben Grüßen vom Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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What an excellent primer on swans. I had no idea that the Queen had a Swanmaster, or much else that you included here. Thank you for educating me!
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Thank you very much for commenting, dear Jacqui 🙂 🙂
Yes, that’s Merry Old England … This Swanmaster and his helper wear blue and red blazers with royal insignia.
We are very happy that we could present some new infos for you 🙂 🙂
Have a happy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Great photos!! I love the edition, it creates a beautiful atmosphere around the swans and cygnets… They look so romantic and mysterious in these photos!
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Dear Mercedes,
thank you so much for liking Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂
Swans have a mysterious aura, haven’t they? And in symbolism they are connected with mystery and secrets (like Lohengrin the Knight of the Swans).
Wishing you a great week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Dear Mercedes,
we are VERY happy that you like Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂 Thank you very much!
It was the Romantic idea that there is a mysterium behind every surface we see and the artist as a magician is able to show it to the uninitiated.
We wish you a great rest of the week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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A post full of interesting information and reactions. The photography is superb and beautifully composed and presented.
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Good morning, dear Louis,
we thank you very much for commenting and liking our post 🙂 🙂
Our dear Master had already collected quite some information about the swans for his dictionary of symbols (“Die Welt der Symbole”) and on this basis Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma searched the internet for more interesting facts about swans. They were the ones who found out about the royal Swanwarden.
Best greetings from the sunny sea
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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There’s magic in that last picture, the one of the swan splashily taking off from water.
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Thanks a lot, dear Steve 🙂 🙂
We just visited your blog and had a look. You were photographing water fowl as well, beautifully with the young ones.
Thanks for commenting.
Wishing you a relaxed week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Liege nachts wach und brüte, was ich schreiben könnte, es geht hin und her in meinem Kopf…
Telephatisch bis stellarpatholgisch, die Schwäne…
Groß-artig!!! Ich meine Tschaikowsky war nicht ganz normal, was er da hörte mit seinem Schwanenohr, ich meine, ehrlich, dreht diese Musik mal auf, arg übertrieben…
Der sterbende Schwan, also, hinsetzen, ein Bein einschlagen, eins lang lassen, Arme seitlich anheben, einatmen, Oberkörper über das lange Bein ablegen, ausatmen und dann – unbedingt – Arme wieder anheben und einatmen, würde ich sagen. Der Sonnenkönig – auch nicht ganz normal – also ehrlich: der Staat bin ich, spinnt der???!!!
Ok, bald ist wieder Nacht, ich brüte….
Sooooo tolle Fotos!!! Ja und Alchemie, habe alles gegoogelt, schon seit Jahren. Mir hilft sehr das Durchatmen…
wenn man das lange Bein nach hinten streckt, kommt ne “Taube” raus…
Eure Pia
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Liebe Pia,
ja, der Tschaikowski … Wir haben Schwanensee nie gehört, noch gesehen. Das ist wohl so ein Klassiker in deiner Branche.
Gerade läuft im Radio die Benjamin Britten Oper “Peter Grimes”, aber darauf muss man sich konzentrieren, nix zum Nebenbeihören.
Wir wünschen dir freies Durchatmen. Happy breathing 🙂 🙂
Die Sprache der Alchimie ist schon ziemlich dunkel. Jung dröselte sie u.a. auf. Es gibt wunderbare Abbildungen der verschiedenen Stufen des alchemischen Prozesses mit Taube, Schwan & Co. Da haben wir solch ein feines, dickes Bilderbuch von Taschen voller solcher Abbildungen in unserer Bibliothek.
Danke fürs Kommentieren.
Hab’s fein
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Danke, das Buch lasse ich mir von meiner Mutter zu Weihnachten schenken.
Ich sehe weiß, etwas schwarz, gelber (orangefarbener?) Schnabel…hmmm…
Also, wenn man den Schwan tanzt, braucht man sehr flexible Arme.
Gerade grübele ich über: an streng end – end streng an..man kann es auch meditieren nennen, wenn man will.
Alles Liebe von Pia
Wer es noch nicht verstanden hat: die scheinbare Mühelosigkeit beim Ballett ist fake, allerdings eine coole Praxis zur Selbst be frau ung, die ich nicht missen möchte.
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Guten Morgen, liebe Pia,
dass die Mühelosigkeit beim Ballett gespielt ist, ist uns hier völlig klar. Die Selbstdisziplin der gespielten Eleganz …
Masterchen war gerade sehr mit den Farben zugange. Er hatte ein längeres Gespräch über die Farbe Blau im HR. Der Hessische Rundfunk widmete eine ganze Stunde der Farbe Blau. Aber hier haben wir es ja mit Weiß zu tun, dass als nicht-prismatische Farbe und Mischung aller Lichtfarben auf einer anderen Ebene liegt als Blau. Übrigens, um einem Trivialmythos entgegenzutreten, Blau als Oberflächenfarbe ist keine Grund- oder Primärfarbe, denn es mischt sich aus den Druckerfarben Cyan und Magenta.
Liebe Grüße von teils heiteren, teils wolkigen Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Also, hier regnet´s, ok. dann hoffe ich, dass man im Hessischen schön zuhört, was du zu “Blau” berichtest, und meine Mutter, geboren in Bad Schwalbach, den richtigen Sender(Empfänger?), also das Radio, beim Kochen, einstellt…
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Nee, liebes Pialein,
das war schon am Freitag in hr2 von 18 – 19h. Die Sendung hieß “Blaue Stunde”.
Ganz viel feinsten Feenhauch von
Siri 🙂 und 🙂 Selma
die fröhlichen Buchfeen
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Wundervoll, ich kann nicht mit dem Lachen aufhören: Farben können fehl leiten!
Sitze hier mit dem blauen Mantel aus England´s Norwich, und kann nur wieder staunen…
Gratulation zum Interview!
Ist das auch kollektiv möglich, dass, wenn die “Menscheit” älter wird, der Farbgeschmack sich ändern könnte…
Wir haben den “Schneckenblues” komponiert, zum Buch von Frau Donaldson, er soll im März auf der Bildungsmesse in Stuttgart aufgeführt werden, Didacta. Oje, ich werde da öffentlich singend aus dem Schneckenhaus tanzen…
Gerade lausche ich noch der Frau mit dem Farb-Flügel…ich staune…sagte ich ja schon…
Wow – der Schubert…himmelblau auf rostrot und olivgrün, hab´s genau gehört, dreidimensional, klar!
Das ist wieder ein lustiger Tag!!!
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Guten Morgen, liebe Pia,
ja, diese Sendung beim HR2 hat die Barbara Pieroth hervorragend vorbereitet und durchgeführt. Ich merke das immer wieder bei Interviews, dass es einen riesigen Qualitätsunterschied zwischen den staatlichen und den privaten Sendern gibt. Die meisten privaten Sender sind trash, die Moderatoren unvorbereitet und die gesamte Sendung lieblos dahingeschlurt. Ich wundere mich, dass Firmen dort Werbung schalten, das bringt doch ein schlechtes Image.
Du wirst öffentlich auf der Bildungsmesse singen. Das machst du bestimmt sehr gut, da sind wir uns sicher.
So, jetzt kommt die liebe Sonne voll Freud´ und Wonne heraus und unser liebes Masterchen wird in der Sauna innen etwas umbauen, da wir einen neuen Saunaofen bekommen.
Dir und deinen Tanzmäuschen wünschen wir einen wunderschönen Tag
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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As usual, these photographs are absolutely stunning!
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Thank you VERY much 🙂 🙂
It took our dear Dina quite a while taking those photos although we have lots of mute swans around where we live.
Wishing you a happy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Hanne’s photos capture the swans and their beautiful slow ballet. Stunning work.
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Thank you very much, dear Cindy. Great that you like Dina’s photography 🙂 🙂
Wishing you a happy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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They are truly beautiful and mysterious birds. No wonder the Queen keeps them. Your outstanding photos capture all that swans are. Thank you!
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Good afternoon, dear Jennie,
well, we tried our best, Dina with her camera and we attracting the swans, what’s Siri’s 🙂 and 🙂 Selma’s speciality. Later we made them fly.
Have a relaxed week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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It was fabulous! You four are the perfect team. Really. 🙂
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Thank you
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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You are most welcome! 😀
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🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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traumhafte Bilder…
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Herzlichen Dank für dein Lob.
Wir wünschen eine fröhliche Woche
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Unglaublich tolle Aufnahmen!
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Guten Morgen, lieber Helmut,
das freut uns, dass dir Dinas Fotografie gefällt – uns auch 😉
Alles Gute
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I think I heard the swan in the last photo slapping its wings on the water as it took off – lovely photos. 🙂 We have Trumpeter swans and Tundra swans here in the fields in flocks of hundreds all winter, then in Spring they return to their breeding grounds. Very different from the Mute swans, but also very beautiful, especially in flight. Enjoy your week!
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Dear Bluebrightly,
funny, our dear Master just talked on one of big German radio stations about the colour blue.
Anyway, we have only mute swans here. And we have to admit we didn’t even know that there exist other swans before we wrote this blog-text. We know other swans from pictures only. Hundreds of swans, wow, that must be great seeing them. We never saw a flog bigger than 20 swans.
Thanks a lot for commenting.
Wishing you a relaxing week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Ganz fantastische Bilder, liebe Dina. Eines davon habe ich mir gerade geklaut, fuer den Bildschirmhintergrund.
Liebe Gruesse, auch an die restlichen 3/4 der Fab Four,
Pit
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Guten Morgen, lieber Pit,
und was für ein schöner Morgen, die Sonne scheint, es sind 11 Grad, und es ist windstill. Wir lieben solches Herbstwetter.
Toll, dass dir Dina’s Fotos so gut gefallen. Ja, sie ist hier der Fotostar in der Gegend. Bei jedem Wettbewerb gehört sie zu den Gewinnern. Wart’s `mal ab, bis am Freitag unser neuer Blogartikel kommt. Da kannst du dann die grandiosen Bilder von unserer Wales-Reise bewundern.
Habe herzlichen Dank fürs Kommentieren 🙂 🙂
Mit ganz lieben Grüßen an dich und Mary vom kleinen Dorf am großen Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Übrigens, lieber Pit, wir werden über meinen Geburtstag nach Rye fahren. Das ist SE Sussex und gilt als die idyllischste kleine Stadt in UK. Bist du ´mal dort gewesen? Da in der Nähe liegen auch die Seven Sisters, Kreidefelsen, die im Gegensatz zu denen in Dover noch richtig weiß sind. Dina ist schon ganz aufgeregt angesichts all der Fotomotive, die dort auf sie warten.
Dann mach’s gut, take care
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Hello! I love this post. There’s a lot of interesting information. I never thought that some people could eat swan meat. The photos are beatiful. I love the contrast of the whiteness of the swans against the dark lake, this exalts their grace and elegance. Have a great week!
Marianne
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Hi, dear Marianne,
we are really happy that you like our post 🙂 🙂 Thank you very much.
When our beloved Bookfayries Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma were researching for this article they found a lot of infos we didn’t know before. Our dear Master knew a little bit more about the swans but not everything that our Bookfayries found neither. But we used what he wrote in his Dictionary of Symbols.
We liked to help Dina with with photographing these swans. Not only carrying all the equipment but also to attract the swans.
We wish you a great week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thank you very much, Fab Four of Clay 🙂
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🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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They are all fayries…beautifully sailing down Dina’s waters – a wonderful post with wonderful images. I have realised your posts do not show up in my reader. I will mend it. ♥ Love to you all.
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Good morning, dear Leya,
oh dear, you revealed a secret now. Indeed, those swans are the fairies on Dina’s waters.
Thank you very much for commenting 🙂 🙂
With lots of love ❤
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
We hope you get that sorted that our posts are showing up on your reader again. We keep our fingers crossed.
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♥♥♥♥♥
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A symbol of beauty, purity and elegance is showing through your photos.
The last capture is stunningly beautiful!
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Thanks a lot, dear Amy 🙂 🙂
Have a great afternoon
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Reblogged this on From 1 Blogger 2 Another.
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Thank you VERY much for reblogging 🙂 🙂
Have a happy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Schwäne werden immer schön inzeniert, sehen in Wirklichkeit aber aus wie Hausgänse mit anderen Schnäbeln.
Trotzdem vermisse ich Fauchi, was wahrscheinlich für mein Faible an Tieren liegt, die mehr oder weniger aus der Art geschlagen sind. Fauchi lehnt halt andere Schwäne kategorisch ab…ich vermisse ihn sehr. Nachdem er mir mich einmal zu böse angefaucht hat, bedrohte ich ihn auf Schwanenart – die Beziehung war dann geklärt und er sah mich nur noch beleidigt an.
Ich überlege die ganze Zeit, ob ich mir ein Buch über Schwäne kaufen soll, leider kostet es gebraucht 70 Euro, aber mein Drang, ihn zu verstehen, ist da. https://nomadenseelefreizeitblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/27/schwaene-in-kahl/
Im Moment bon ich mit einem schmusebedürften Hirsch beschäftigt, das ist ein ganz guter Ersatz. https://nomadenseelefreizeitblog.wordpress.com/2021/10/09/fasanerie-hanau/
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Ach ja: Einmal sagte ich ihm: “Weiche Satanas!” und er hat sich umgedreht und ist zischelt davon getrottet. Notfalls wäre der Badesee ihn mit Weihwasser losgeworden.
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Wir mussten immer nahe an einem Schwanenpaar vorbei, wenn wir mit unserem Boot rausfuhren. Die zischten zwar auch aggressiv, aber dabei bleb es und so gewöhnten wir uns daran und sie sich an uns.
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Das Zwischen heißt nur: “Du machst mir Angst, hau ab.” Wenn man vorbeigeht und sie gar nicht beachtet, fühlen sie sich auch nicht bedroht. Zumindest, solange sie keine Jungen haben, was bei Fauchi nicht zu erwarten, da dazu ein anderer Schwan benötigt wird und er andere nicht ausstehen kann.
Wer weiß, was er erlebt hat, auf Youtube gibt es Videos, wie Schwäne versuchen einen anderen zu ertränken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-xlT0PGiOs
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Danke für den Link. Erstaunlich.
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Ich habe für klare Verhaltnisse gesorgt: Fauchi nach Schwanenart bedroht und er hatte das Problem, dass Vögel nicht erbrechen können, er aber ein Büschel Gras im Hals stecken hatte. Damit war ein für alle Mal geklärt, ob er mich anzischen darf oder nicht.
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Vögel haben kein emetisches Zentrum, also kein Erbrechen ist möglich. Das ist bei allen Vögeln so.
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Eben, und das war Fauchis Problem, neben dem, dass ich ihm “So nicht” klar machte. Keine Ahnung, was ihm mehr an die Nieren ging.
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Hier wird gerade ein Schwanenbuch hoch gelobt
“The Swan – A Biography” von Stephen Moss
Es wird sowohl von Ornithologen als auch von allgemeinen Lesern und Kritikern sehr empfohlen und wurde als Buch des Monats von unserer Buchhandlung ausgesucht.
Wir finden, dass es einen riesigen Unterschied zwischen Gänsen und Schwänen gibt. Wir lieben es, wenn einige Schwäne mit ihren starken Flügelschlägen niedrig über die Marschen fliegen und man die Luftverdrängung zischend hört.
Vom Schwan zum Hirsch das ist ja ein Unterschied.
Mit Gruß vom sonnigen Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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„The Swan – A Biography“ von Stephen Moss kannte ich noch nicht.
Den einzigen Unterschied zwischen Schwänen und Gänsen sehe ich im Schnabel, Schwäne gehören ja auch zu den Gänsevögeln
Schwäne stehen in Deutschland schon seit Jahrhunderten unter Naturschutz, weswegen niemand mehr weiß, wie das Fleisch schmeckt; den Überlieferungen nach schlammig-algig.
“Vom Schwan zum Hirsch das ist ja ein Unterschied.”
Man nimmt was man bekommt, Grauhals hat zugegeben nicht so einen einen Klatsche wie Fauchi, trotzdem hat er sowohl mir gegenüber als und in seiner Herde ein sehr indivuelles Verhalten. Es wird der Tag kommen, an dem er mich vor lauter Begeisterung umrennt.
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Tja, dann wirst du als Gleiche angenommen.
Der Stephen Moss ist eine Neuerscheinung.
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Ich sage mir immer, dass ich zu Gast bin, ob im Badesee oder im Wildpark. Also muss ich meine unfreiwilligen Gastgeber kennenlernen und respektieren, dass ich bei jemanden zu Hause bin. Was nicht bedeutet, dass ich mich blöd anmachen lasse.
Fauchi und ich sind danach an Land und im Wasser hervorragend klar gekommen, er ist immer in einem respektvollen Abstand an mir vorbei geschwommen. (Wobei es auch interessant ist, wenn ein Schwan einen Meter an einem vorbeischwimmt und auf einen runtersieht.)
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Beautifully photographed!
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Thank you very much.
Wishing you a wonderful day
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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