Swans savour chance to play around

ABOUT a week ago I was travelling by boat on the Shannon.

It was a glorious spring day with sunshine and just the odd shower. The river was looking great.

Much of the Shannon is lined by reed beds, some of them very extensive and often with more than one reed species in them. The different species have different preferences for water depth and the make-up of the river bottom — some like mud, others gravel. They are also subtly different in colour, giving a ‘forty shades of green’ effect.