It’s been exactly one year today since a tiny gray cygnet emerged from his egg in 2006, gently urged on by mom and dad, Marlika and Precious.

He’s grown into a fine young swan with the same adventurous spirit he showed last year when his parents were kept so busy “rounding him up” as he began to explore beyond the family circle.

He gained speed being chased by Boy, then doing his own chasing of the Ambleside swans! He survived the Great Storm of December 2006, the freezing of Lost Lagoon and being marooned for a morning, among other big moments in his young life.

Like all swans big or small, he just loves a leisurely stretch, and as you can see from the picture below, has finally learned to coordinate that wing-and-leg maneuver that gave him such a hard time as a gangly “teen-ager!”