"At this time of year, the Editorial Team at
‘Nice Birds but Dangerous’ look to compile material for the Christmas blog post.
For inspiration, we often peruse our archival collection of the thoughts and
teachings of Joe (Swan fearing) Roberts.
This year instead, we went through the
copious store of artefacts he left behind after his untimely death in 2001.
All of our regular readers and swan aficionados
worldwide, will know that Joe was ‘no stranger’ to the benefits offered by the
occasional Light Ale but few will appreciate that his absolute favourite amongst
the ‘Pale’ libations was ‘Courage Light Ale’ circa 1970.
What the editorial team only discovered
this week was that Joe had been involved with the development of ‘marketing
material’ designed by the company to rival the Guinness Toucan balancing a pint
of stout on its bill. Joe, never averse to putting himself forward and thus into
the limelight, came up with the catchy strap-line “It’s what Joe would have
wanted”. When we found in Joe’s belongings, the above ‘printers proof’ for the
pilot advertisement, it all became clear. Sadly, the campaign was abandoned peremptorily,
due to fears articulated by the RSPB, that it might promote under-age binge drinking,
particularly amongst cygnets, and generally in the close vicinity of lakes and
other inland waterways. We shall however, never really know!
We at ‘NBbD’ wish all our blog readers and contributors a very Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
However, we like to emphasise each and every
year, how dangerous cold and hungry swans can be during Winter Solstice. And yet
every year there are unfortunate and avoidable swan related events resulting
from rash actions and thoughtless behaviours!
TAKING SMALL CHILDREN TO FEED
THE SWANS ON BOXING DAY IS COMPLETELY WRONG AND TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE!!
Even feeding swans with bread can have unforeseen
circumstances. They may be nice birds but they can be dangerous!" - Ed.
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