Black swan on the river Avon at Stratford, seen on a second consecutive day earlier this month. The previous day, it had been swimming along with a small group of mute swans, with no signs of conflict.
Now it was near the chain ferry, in the midst of a larger group of mute swans which were hanging around in the hope and expectation of being fed. Someone did indeed start to do this. Suddenly the black swan started threatening all the others. Mute swans are quite a bit bigger that it, often touchy and aggressive.
Despite that, the black swan’s aggression cleared quite a space round itself, giving it prime access to the bread which was being thrown to the birds.
Once the food was all gone, the black swan moved from among the mutes, a little further from the river bank. and started to preen.
When we came back half an hour or so later, it had swum a short distance further upstream, and was preening again near the far bank. It was in a position where it still had sight of the ferry-side feeding area, and probably also the one by Bancroft Gardens and the canal basin.