Swans

[Natalie Graham]

I have been told many a time that a swan could break a mans arm,

 

Having heard this so many times, I always imagine they do little else.

 

 

 

[Alan Saunders]

If we all recommend him for a (well deserved) award would that result in his dismissal for "Exceeding his duties as a Servant of the Company"?

 

Alan

[Water Rat.]

 

Went down the Wendover Arm yesterday and met this BW chap (don't know his name, I'm afraid). He was carrying a swan in a bag. The swan had had a fish-hook removed and had been given anitbiotics. He asked if we'd seen the swan's mate so that the pair could be re-united. A rather heartening story for once about BW.

 

 

Oooooh. Where can I get a hand bag like that...........

 

Once the cygnets are old enough to fend for themselves the parents tell them that it's time they left the nest. You can sometimes see the cygnets trying to hang around at the beginning of the new season and getting short shrift from the parents, who have got other things on their mind.

 

I sometimes often think that we ought to have something like this in the human world.

Cheers

Cath

 

 

I so agree!!

[County4x4]

Discarded fishing line is something that really bugs me! I had to carry a dead swan over a mile back to the van for disposal when it had died in a field adjacent to the canal after getting wrapped up in line. I hope that the latest victim of this menace has been seen to by now.

 

Ange - a little late now, but there's a lady down in Glasson who has a lot to do with the swans. There's a particularly psycho male who lives in the basin and who has killed loads of intruders. We saw him off another victim last year and got the injured bird out of the lock bywash, and she was going to call out a local rescue service, though I don't have their details. I did suggest that perhaps BW should come up with a procedure or at least issue or have available a number they could call in such circumstances, but I don't think anything ever got done. I think they possibly saw it as a bit too much trouble, or possibly tried to look the other way as things like dead swans are supposed to be "disposed of" through proper channels. In effect, this means calling out the knacker man to dispose of the carcass, and as he comes from Burscough in a 7.5 tonne wagon, this costs a small fortune! In the case I mentioned at the start, we "lost" the carcass in dense woodland well away from any footpaths and let nature do it's thing.

 

Andy

[Ange]

An update on the Glasson Branch swan - Chagall (who reported the incident to the RSPCA) had an e-mail to say the cygnet had been released from the fishing line and was doing well.

 

We witnessed a particularly viscous fight this evening between two male swans, with one nearly drowning the other. I've never heard swans scream before - it's not a pleasant sound! Dave whistled very loudly through the window which did seem to give the beleaguered swan some respite (Dave can do a very loud whistle - he didn't warn me first and I jumped a mile in the air!!).

 

One or both just made that same screaming sound again just now, unfortunately I can't see what's going on nor can I whistle. Nature's very harsh sometimes, but at least it is nature rather than some careless or nasty fisherman.

 

Andy - can you PM me contact details of the lady on the Glasson Branch just in case anything similar happens again?

[Phil Ambrose]

An update on the Glasson Branch swan - Chagall (who reported the incident to the RSPCA) had an e-mail to say the cygnet had been released from the fishing line and was doing well.

 

We witnessed a particularly viscous fight this evening between two male swans, with one nearly drowning the other. I've never heard swans scream before - it's not a pleasant sound! Dave whistled very loudly through the window which did seem to give the beleaguered swan some respite (Dave can do a very loud whistle - he didn't warn me first and I jumped a mile in the air!!).

 

One or both just made that same screaming sound again just now, unfortunately I can't see what's going on nor can I whistle. Nature's very harsh sometimes, but at least it is nature rather than some careless or nasty fisherman.

 

Andy - can you PM me contact details of the lady on the Glasson Branch just in case anything similar happens again?

 

We were moored on the Broads for 8 years and rescued many birds in that time during which we became well aquainted with a chap whowith his wife ran a small Swan rescue charity. If we were unable to catch a particular bird we would phone himand he would turn up with a tiny canoe in his 4X4. He would take on any Swan with no hesitation, catching and "bagging" them before taking them to the Vet. Fishing line is deadly stuff, on one occasion we netted a Moor Hen which used to feed from our hand because we noticed it had a badly swollen leg. As I lifted the net with the bird in it the poor bird's leg dropped clean off, the line had cut right through! Luckily it had also seal of the blood vessels as well. The happy outcome was that The Swan rescue man took him of to a sanctuary where there were many other victims.

 

Phil

[Josher]

Must be quite a sight ...

 

Swans mistaking Flintshire’s icy roads for rivers Jan 6 2011 Flintshire Chronicle

 

CONFUSED swans have been crashlanding on Flintshire’s iced-over roads, thinking they were rivers. Elfyn Pierce-Jones, who runs Flintshire Wildlife and Pet Rescue in Holywell with his wife Joy, said the winter weather had caused a number of problems for wildlife. He said: “We’ve had quite a few calls about swans landing on the A548 Coast Road. We think the ice makes it look like a river to them. “In the space of two weeks I think we had six calls from the public and three from the police about swans on the road. One evening we were called to the road outside Abakhan in Mostyn and there were two police cars either side of a swan trying to keep it safe. “Luckily none of the swans have been injured.”

 

The centre has also taken in three baby hedgehogs who are too small to go into hibernation. Elfyn said: “Because it’s so cold the hedgehogs might go into hibernation, but if they are under 750 grams in weight and they hibernate they might not wake up. “We’ll keep them at the rescue until either the weather gets better or they put on enough weight.” Elfyn urged people to do their bit for wildlife during the cold weather. “The weather has been having a big effect on animals, particularly garden birds and ducks,” he said. “We would encourage people to feed the birds and also provide them with fresh water. “Water needs to be put out every day for them because it freezes over. “There is meant to be more cold weather on the way and it is hard for animals to cope.”

[Gunna Do]

The very feisty ones we would pop a cloth bag over their head. When they cannot see, they go very quiet.

M and M

 

.....I wonder if this would work with the wife?

[Nine of Hearts]

I'm convinced it's the doggy version of the short person syndrome! They feel they have to compensate for their lack of height by a surfeit of bolsheyness (hmm made up word there that the spell checker definitely doesn't like and offers me Bolshevists as an alternative!)

 

Oh joy! It's cheap stereotype time!

 

By the same token can I assume that you can neither park a car nor read a map?

[Doorman]

.....I wonder if this would work with the wife?

 

Dunno, but it's worth a try...!

 

(Name withheld on elf & safety grounds)

[Purple Fairie]

We've got a visitor...

 

 

he/she has been around since before christmas, and tries to join the group of resident swans but always seems to be shoved out. Hopefully he will soon get his bearings and be off to wherever he should be.

[Naughty Cal]

We have a very strange "family" of swans in and around Burton Waters. There are the usual white male and female but then tagged on there is a black swan who seems to help them raise their brood each year. The white swans dont seem to mind either.

 

The resident swans are getting a little to tame and now realise who feeds them. They tap on Dads patio windows for feeding at 9am every morning.

[Bat & Frog]

We've got a visitor...

 

 

he/she has been around since before christmas, and tries to join the group of resident swans but always seems to be shoved out. Hopefully he will soon get his bearings and be off to wherever he should be.

 

 

 

Her flight was probably cancelled, bad weather or wrong type of snow !

[Purple Fairie]

Her flight was probably cancelled, bad weather or wrong type of snow !

 

[Ange]

Oh joy! It's cheap stereotype time!

 

By the same token can I assume that you can neither park a car nor read a map?

 

I'm a damn good map reader but rubbish at parking!

 

Seriously, it was a throw away remark that was meant to be funny - sincere apologies if it caused offence, that was never my intention.

[Zoro]

Here's a question for the ornithologists amongst you. We spent last winter on a section of the Leeds & Liverpool canal and grew very familiar with a couple of swans and their six cygnets. We named the male swan Beaky because of his split beak and fed them all out of our boat windows. The cygnets, when we last saw them, were as big as their parents and showing a lot of white feathers.

 

Spring came and Beaky and his missus and the cygnets all disappeared. Then Beaky and missus reappeared with a new batch of babies - the last we saw when we escaped down the Wigan Flight before the L&L closure they had another six well grown cygnets.

 

So what happened to the original six? Do they suddenly get driven off by their previously protective parents and start life afresh somewhere else? I'm just wondering what happened to Beaky's 2009 offspring.

 

In reply to your orriginal post. This male swan I know as SLY a play on the blue tag on his leg SL1.

He is a great dad. in a previous year his partner SLJ died in the summer but instead of abandoning his signets

he stayed with them and reared then on his own until they were all mature enough to fledge on their own.

The following season he reappeared with the new female he is still with now.

The mystery of the six signets who did dissappear suddenly has not been solved. They did not turn up at any other

local sites such as Leigh Flash where many young swans in their first year congregate.

Although not proved and because of their sudden and total dissappearance it is thought they were taken for meat.

It would be unfair to suspect a particular group of people but there are groups of eastern european people in the

wigan area who have taken birds from local parks for the table. The same group who regularly leave illegal night

lines and fish traps in the canal fishing for carp for the table.

[Mac of Cygnet]

We've got a visitor...

 

 

he/she has been around since before christmas, and tries to join the group of resident swans but always seems to be shoved out. Hopefully he will soon get his bearings and be off to wherever he should be.

 

That could be because the newcomer is a completely different species, if you're talking about the one at the front. It's a Whooper Swan, much less common than the usual Mute Swans, which the other two are.

[Doorman]

.

Although not proved and because of their sudden and total dissappearance it is thought they were taken for meat.

It would be unfair to suspect a particular group of people but there are groups of eastern european people in the

wigan area who have taken birds from local parks for the table. The same group who regularly leave illegal night

lines and fish traps in the canal fishing for carp for the table.

 

Careful now, you may be accused of racial stereotyping here, even if what you say is true!

 

We passed through that stretch of the L&L last year and witnessed two stripped swan carcasses at the side of the canal. It would appear that they are fair game to some nationalities

 

Mike

[Josher]

Why don't they use the blue fencing and save the arguments?

 

COUNCIL: We will not write 'blank cheque' for swan fence project (10:27am Monday 10th January 2011 Middlewich Guardian)

 

ANIMAL welfare volunteers in Middlewich have hit another stumbling block in their long campaign to protect swans in the Trent and Mersey Canal. Funds were secured for a 400m fence and hedge to stop swans entering Booth Lane and endangering motorists more than five months ago. But British Waterways will not release its grant of £2,500 to the Swan Support Group until there are assurances about the fence’s long term maintenance. The organisation wants Middlewich Town Council to underwrite the agreement. This would mean the town’s Council Tax payers would foot the bill to cut the hedge and deal with any vandalism if the Swan Support Group folded.

 

There were mixed feelings about the proposal at the council meeting in December. Clr Peter Hirst said: “I think British Waterways is being responsible by making sure there is a body to maintain this fence.” But Clr Chalky White added: “I’m not convinced. It’s effectively a blank cheque and I don’t think we should be looking at taking on blank cheques at the moment. “I’m not saying we should step back completely but British Waterways has significantly more funds than us. “We could potentially get in an underwriting partnership with them.”

 

Until there is a resolution, canal visitors and Booth Lane residents will have to continue to put up with the temporary orange fencing which is often described as an eyesore. It is also frustrating for the Swan Support Group, a member of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, as it has already appointed a contractor who is ready to start the work.

[deletedaccount]

I thought this was going to be a recipe thread

[Doorman]

I thought this was going to be a recipe thread

 

It may be, but only in Polish..!

[Josher]

That could be because the newcomer is a completely different species, if you're talking about the one at the front. It's a Whooper Swan, much less common than the usual Mute Swans, which the other two are.

 

 

Same swan?

 

 

Rare swan makes twitchers cock-a-Whoop

 

9:30pm Tuesday 1st February 2011 Worcester News

 

A RARE swan from the Arctic has caused a bit of a flap on the river Severn by appearing alongside much more common cousins. A beautiful whooper swan has appeared at South Quay in Worcester alongside mute swans. The whooper swan is a large white bird with a long, thin neck and black legs. Its black bill has a large triangular patch of yellow on it. The bird is mainly a winter visitor to the UK from Iceland, although a couple of pairs nest in the north. Its winter population and small breeding numbers make it an amber priority on the RSPB’s bird guide – red is the highest conservation priority, with species needing urgent action. Amber is the next most critical group. It is usually only seen in Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and parts of East Anglia between October and March. There are only 5,700 whooper swans in Britain.

 

John Phillpott, Worcester News columnist and birdwatcher, said: “I have never seen a whooper swan on the Severn before and I have been bird watching in this area for years.” Kirsi Peck, an RSPB wildlife adviser, said it was possible the bird had come from further south, perhaps from the Slimbridge Wetland Centre by the Severn Estuary. She said: “To find one way up in Worcester means it has gone a long way up the Severn valley.” She said it was not impossible for a whooper swan to breed with a mute swan, but it would be rare. “I have never heard of it happening but you can never say never,” she said.

[sociable_hermit]

We passed through that stretch of the L&L last year and witnessed two stripped swan carcasses at the side of the canal. It would appear that they are fair game to some nationalities

 

Mike

That's very sad. I don't even like swans very much, but I would fight for the right for them to continue being gracefully arsey, as is their wont.

 

As an aside, though, I wonder how you can tell the ethnic origin of the perpetrators from looking at the carcasses? Times are hard for British people too, you know. And gypsies. Yeah, gypsies. They normally get the blame for everything, don't they?

[Mac of Cygnet]

Same swan?

 

 

Rare swan makes twitchers cock-a-Whoop

 

9:30pm Tuesday 1st February 2011 Worcester News

 

A RARE swan from the Arctic has caused a bit of a flap on the river Severn by appearing alongside much more common cousins. A beautiful whooper swan has appeared at South Quay in Worcester alongside mute swans.

 

Probably not Purple Fairie's swan if she saw it in Lincolnshire. It's unlikely that twitchers would get excited over a whooper swan - they're regularly spotted in the winter.

[Josher]

Hope she's wortht it!

 

 

Bitter love rivalry sees fighting in Newport – by swans

 

Friday 4th March 2011, 9:00PM GMT. Shropshire Star

 

A bitter love triangle exploded into violence after rivals Albert and Louis stunned onlookers by getting involved in an unseemly brawl in the middle of a Shropshire street. The female at the centre of the tug-of-love was Sarah, whose partner Louis caught Albert cosying up to her at Cheney Hill island in Newport. Albert, who was pining for his lifelong partner Mildred, after she was taken away for treatment on her foot, tried to scarper. But jealous Louis followed him and the pair ended up fighting on the B5062 into Edgmond last Friday. Police were called to separate the pair – and drivers were all the more stunned as the rivals were swans. Most of the duel took place in the air before Albert was brought crashing down to earth.

 

Water bailiff Alan Evans, who keeps a close eye on Newport Canal where Albert, Louis, Sarah and Mildred can normally be found, was quickly on the scene to catch the two male birds. Louis was released back on the canal but Albert was taken to Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre in Cheshire to be overseen by a vet and reunited with Mildred, who was also at the centre recovering from her operation. Ann Hall, who helps Mr Evans feed the birds on the canal, said Albert had been seen all over the town looking for Mildred. She said she believed he saw Sarah on Cheney Hill island and thought it was Mildred, sparking the duel. She said: “It was quite a fight. Swans are meant to be together for life and they pine terribly when one goes. The RSPCA had to rescue Mildred by boat but Albert flew off so they couldn’t catch him. When the fight started they went up in the air and Albert landed on the road. We got Albert to Stapeley and he was reunited with Mildred. Staff there said they have never seen anything like it. They were necking each other non-stop. The RSPCA have been absolutely wonderful.”

 

Stapely swan expert Andrew Smith said: “They are both doing well and we are hoping to get them into a pond here early next week.” Mr Evans said it was mating season so the swans needed to be together.