Betty and the babies
Last weekend we went to the village of Whittington to see the castle there. (That's the sort of thing you do on weekends here in England; drive to Shropshire to see a castle. There are quite a lot of castles still hanging round, so it's best if you try to see one every weekend.)
As soon as we arrived, we pulled out our sandwiches and went over to the moat to have a picnic, another typically English thing to do. (Although the American in me insisted on having peanut butter and jelly, not something you'd find on an English picnic menu.) After a bit I noticed a swan family swimming toward us: "Look, Daughter Number One, swan babies!"
She gave me one of those looks I've gotten used to from her, the "You're crazy, Mom!" look. But this time I just smirked. "See the babies?" I repeated, knowing she couldn't believe those large birds were actually goslings. Five Ugly Ducklings, swimming along with their mum and dad, almost the size of geese.
We watched the swans, toured the castle (which doesn't take long—there are only a few towers and the outer bailey left), and then stopped in the gift shop, where the ancient volunteer regaled us with the history of the castle. It's near the border of Wales, positioned, like many castles built in the twelfth century, to guard against attacks from the Welsh—and not always successfully. When we mentioned the swans, we learned their names are Billy and Betty, and every year they have goslings—these latest were born in May. Each year the goslings are rounded up an rehomed, since there's not enough room at the castle for that many swans.
Billy is a particularly large swan. He's pretty aggressive, too—we watched him snap as a toddler got too close. The display of temper didn't seem to put the toddler off; he was right back at the side of the pond a minute later.
Pretty sure the kid was Welsh.
Dad snatches the kid back after Billy loses it.
Billy swims back under the bridge, having successfully saved the castle from another Welsh invasion.
Whittington Castle in Shropshire, protecting against Welsh invasion since 1138.
(I suppose if the Welsh had been more successful at invading, Billy would have been named Llewellyn.)
