Stand-off between dad Black Swan and soon-to-be dad Mute Swan in St. James's Park

About a week ago I went to St. James's Park to see what was happening with a pair of Black Swans that had a single cygnet.  Last time I saw them, both male and female swans were with their cygnet on newly-turfed grass near the children's play area.  This time only the female swan was there.  She seemed a bit unsettled and lonely and she kept making little "peep, peep" sounds.  I think that she was missing her mate.

Eventually she took to the water, followed by the cygnet.

I followed them round the lake and could see, in the distance, an aggressive male Mute Swan heading towards the little island in the centre of the lake.

The female Black Swan had found her mate, but trouble was brewing and the family had to quickly get onto the little island.

The Mute Swan had ruffled feathers and was hissing at the Black Swans, which were by now hiding in the shrubbery with their cygnet.

I wandered a little further round the lake and saw that the male Mute Swan's mate was sitting on a nest not far away from where the Black Swans were hiding on the island.

The Mute Swan was still on the water and the Black Swan was bravely standing there in front of him.

They both stayed in position for some time - with the Mute Swan swimming off every so often and then very quickly returning for a stand-off with the Black Swan.  He retreated into the shrubbery, but very quickly returned for another face-off!

He must have got fed up with the situation as he then started walking round the edge of the island, drawing himself up to his full height in a very intimidating way.

Black Swans are much smaller than Mute Swans, so he made sure to stay on land so that he would appear to be much larger!

Eventually the Mute Swan gave up and swam off - giving the male Black Swan an opportunity to swim off.  The cygnet had appeared out of the bushes, but stayed at the edge of the island waiting for mum to appear.

She was obviously still very wary of the Mute Swan and it took her some time to tentatively come out of hiding.

Somehow she did not seem to know where her mate had gone and, stupidly, swam backwards and forwards in the water near the island.

Once again, the aggressive Mute Swan was heading in her direction!

So mum and baby once again had to climb onto the island and hide in the shrubbery!

I could not stay any longer to see how long it would be before she managed to escape again and headed off in the direction I had come.  Sure enough, the male Black Swan was standing on the newly-turfed area where I had first seen the family.  I hope he went back to the little island and rescued his mate and their cygnet!