Nesting swan on Ham Common

You can tell that Ham, situated between the town centres of Richmond and Kingston upon Thames, is a real village as it has a village green (Ham Common) with a pond.

Many birds use the pond so it is a good place to walk to and also to sit by at any time of the year. Spring is a little special as this is when the swans build their nest.

Here the pen is almost dwarfed by the nest that she is sitting on while she carefully adds to it.

The nesting swans always attract great interest and many locals watch the progress of the eggs and then the cygnets.

Unfortunately there have been some incidents involving dogs (and their stupid owners) so the healthy progress of the swans is not guaranteed and each visit to the pond is tinged with worry until, hopefully, all the birds have been carefully counted.