When Brian retired from the University of Hong Kong in 2003, he returned to his home town of Littlehampton in West Sussex on the south coast of England to a riverside house, where he discovered he had an unusual neighbour.
For, on a tiny island opposite his house lived a mute swan (Cygnus olor) that he named Ernie. At first casually but, subsequently, as the years advanced, more seriously, Ernie and his first spouse (Elsie), who re-partnered every spring, became part of a long-term study that has lasted for 15 years.
Through all the trials and tribulations of defending his and her territory, raising a new brood of cygnets every year and then re-partnering with a new spouse (Elizabeth) with the death of Elsie, Ernie has survived into old age. In 2018, it thus became appropriate to tell the story of Ernie and to write this up as a fascinating new book – now published.
This then is “The Story of a Mute Swan on the River Arun at Littlehampton, West Sussex, in England” and within which a more wider picture is painted of the United Kingdom’s swans, their association with royalty and the nobility, their biology and behaviour and why they are held in such affection by the English public.
Location: MBG07, G/F, Main Building, HKU Main Campus
Date: 7 Nov 2018 (Wed)
Time: 6:00-7:30 p.m.
