The wait is on for the next generation of Bishop's Palace swans to hatch. And it's all being caught on camera.

Grace and Gabriel are firm favourites with both locals and tourists, and now Grace has laid eggs in the nest and a new SwanCam is broadcasting live from the moat onto the Palace's website. In previous years thousands of viewers have tuned in daily to the Palace's 24-hour SwanCam to catch a glimpse of the swans and their cygnets.

This year, Palace staff were keen to encourage Grace to nest in a safe location alongside the Moat, by the Palace's Office door. The Palace gardeners left some tempting foliage near this location, and the clever birds decided to construct their nest in the preferred spot.

The extremely popular SwanCam has now gone live on the Palace website. With infra-red capability, the SwanCam runs 24 hours a day and is trained on the nest.

The Palace's 'Swan Whisperer', Moira Anderson says "Installation of the camera was done very quickly so that Grace was not disturbed and the camera is located a good distance from the nest. It looks like Grace has laid at least five eggs in her nest, which are being kept safe and sound and covered in feathers to keep them warm. Grace is being very vigilant and she remains on the nest for the majority of the day, only taking short breaks to clean."

Grace is now settling down to incubate the eggs a period which usually lasts for around 5 weeks and fans of SwanCam can compete to be the first to spot a cygnet emerging.