Patience paid off for a couple when they saw cygnets hatching from their eggs beneath their mother.

John and Mary Aitken, from Barrowby, were delighted to see the baby swans after weeks of watching adults nest along Grantham Canal.

John said: "We had been watching swans nesting for a few weeks and today [Friday] were rewarded with the wonderful sight of eggs hatching.

"We saw one breaking out of its shell and others drying out into a fluffy bundles."

The couple returned yesterday (Sunday) and saw "eight tiny bundles of fluff on the water".

Gallery1

1 / 3

Cygnets hatch along Grantham Canal. (47263124)