2024 has been a complicated year for me. For my own personal development, for making new wonderful friends, for having some of the most amazing experiences of my life, it’s probably the best year of my life. But, looking at the state of the world this year, I’ve also got really horrible thoughts that maybe, there is no justice in the world, the bad guys will win, and the heart stopping ending with our hero hanging over a cliff is the end of the show, it’s been cancelled, and the next series where the good guys win won’t be happening.
So a lot to mentally process for both the best and worst year of my life.
But, there’s something that really takes me out of my negative thoughts, a way where I can just leave the bad feelings at a begrudging relative, for a few hours, and just feel a joy and wonder I can barely describe.
I am talking of course about, going to the Lough to see the baby birds!
So, just a quick translation. Lough, is Irish for lake. And The means The. So it translates as The Lake. Hey I never said it had an imaginative name!
Since I got into wildlife photography, the Lough has been a very important place for me. Normally, bird photography is harder even than insect photography, because while an insect might not realize you’re there when you approach with the camera, birds tend to know instantly and move fast. But in the Lough, the birds have gotten used to the sight of those weird hairless ape things and by and large aren’t bothered by our presence at all. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that many people go to the Lough to feed the birds, so the birds are probably thinking, “Those wingless weirdos are giving me food so I’m okay with them!”
I remember around April, when I first got into wildlife photography, and hanging around in the Glen River Park, wondering would I see the baby mallards? And then, such joy when they emerged!
I have seen the baby mallards, no, teenage mallards I suppose, many times since, and a new group of baby ducklings was born in the Glen River Park recently. The Glen River Park also has at least one baby moorhen, Fitzgerald’s Park has mallard ducklings and baby moorhens, and the Lough is the absolute haven for baby birds, containing mallard ducklings, goslings, cygnets and baby coots. But the reason I want to focus on the Lough’s goslings and cygnets, is that with the other baby birds, I tend to lose track and forget which bird is which. But, with the goslings and cygnets, I know who’s who, there’s just four goslings and four cygnets, so, that’s right, I am experiencing the unparalleled joy of watching a group of baby birds growing up!
This is one of my favourite pictures of the goslings. Now, as always, it’s important to realize that what I’m about to describe is described through human eyes, so it’s possible something different was happening and I’m just anthrophomorphizing, but in any case, my best understanding of what happened was the goslings stood for a while near the water, nervous. What is this strange substance? Will it hurt me? Why do I have to get into that weird stuff? Can’t I just stay on the ground where it’s safe?
And then, slowly but surely, the goslings got brave, and went into the water!
And as I say, it’s very important not to anthropomorphize. But I’d like to believe I witnessed the gosling equivalent of a baby taking their first steps, a really precious moment.
And now let’s talk about the cygnets. I had no idea what juvenile swans even looked like before I saw these little bundles of joy.
I try to get out to the Lough every week. And, the cygnets and goslings are changing. They’re moving more confidently through the water. They’re not as dependent on their parents as they were. When I see them now, it reminds me of that experience of meeting a relative who in your mind is still a child with a high pitched voice, and now they have a deep voice, and depending on how long it’s been since you’ve seen them, a deep voice and some sort of motorized vehicle, and some kind of mortgage.
You can’t have a mortgage, you’re still seven! I refuse to believe that you’re not still a child!
I can’t stress enough how seeing these little birds growing into big birds just makes all of my troubles melt away. It’s been a very therapeutic experience for me. When I’m worried about the world, or worried about my own life, when my anxiety is quite bad, there’s something about seeing the birds go from this, the previous picture, to this:
That really takes me out of my own problems and the problems in the world. There’s something almost hypnotic about seeing the birds go from dependent and fragile to independent and strong. Perhaps seeing them going from being so helpless to getting closer and closer to being ready to take on the world makes me hope the same is true for me, that the feelings of helplessness I have in various situations will someday by overcome.
And when I’m already in a really good mood, and I go to the Lough, well, this just has me in a feeling of elation for the rest of the day, and possibly the day after that.
So, whether you’re having a tough time right now, or whether you’re already in a good mood and want to be in an even better mood, nothing wrong with that! I hope learning about these precious little birds, quickly becoming precious big birds, has brought a little happiness into your day. I thought I’d finish with a before and after, a photograph of my earliest pictures of the goslings and the cygnets, and my latest pictures, so you can see them go from babies to teenagers right before your eyes!
I’m actually using the word “teenagers”. I’ve really failed at the whole don’t anthropomorphize principal haven’t I!
And now the cygnets!
Ponderings Of An Autist 
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