A Plague of Swans

[Leon Roskilly]

Perhaps it's not cormorants after all!

 

 

The swans' burgeoning numbers are now threatening fish, birds and other animals that rely on the vegetation to survive. They are also depriving fish of their camouflage, making them more vulnerable to predators such as herons and kingfishers.........

 

.........Among the species under threat from the swans are migratory sea trout, sticklebacks, Atlantic salmon and perch. Birds including the yellow wagtail and green sandpiper also rely on the vegetation that swans eat.

 

Swans survival rates have been helped not only by unusually mild weather, but also by the phasing out of lead in fishing tackle and in gunshot which poisoned swans in the past. The swans are forming unusually large flocks before they find their mate for life, at which time they establish their own territory and feed in pairs, posing less of a threat to the habitat. Experts say they have never witnessed so many swans flocking in one place.

 

 

Full article at:

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2114501.ece

[Jim Roper]

Perhaps it's not cormorants after all!

Full article at:

 

Nothing to worry about! The eastern Europeans have started to eat them.

[Steve Walker]

This item was covered on BBC breakfast TV a couple of days ago. The Salmon and Trout Association bloke interviewed was stressing that the root of the problem was over-abstraction leading to low water levels. He was being very careful not to appear to be anti-swan.

[Leon Roskilly]

This item was covered on BBC breakfast TV a couple of days ago. The Salmon and Trout Association bloke interviewed was stressing that the root of the problem was over-abstraction leading to low water levels. He was being very careful not to appear to be anti-swan.

 

 

You can see it here:

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_ne...storyid=6224663

[Steve Walker]

Thanks Leon, that's the report I saw. I must admit, I was a bit annoyed by the "since anglers were banned from using lead shot, several years ago" bit. Where "several years ago" means "almost two decades ago"

[fishyrob]

Nothing to worry about! The eastern Europeans have started to eat them.

 

Boring................ DId you see them do it personally?

[Leon Roskilly]

Story in today's Independent:

 

http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/article2132526.ece

[Jim Roper]

Boring................ DId you see them do it personally?

Did you see Princess Diana die?

[mark eyre]

Swan is marginally better to eat than cormorant. However to try it, legally, you need be the guest of either Her Majesty or the Guild of Dyers.

 

We should worry less of swans, favoured food grass, than shortsighted governance, favoured mode dithering.

[Jim Roper]

Swan is marginally better to eat than cormorant. However to try it, legally, you need be the guest of either Her Majesty or the Guild of Dyers.

 

Not true!

 

 

In our village, Swan was known as Abbotsbury Turkey.

 

It was always noted that a lot of curtains were drawn until after dinner on Christmas day.

 

Cygnets for the table should not be allowed access to salt water. My grandfather's cousin had a special pen in his garden, with a spring-fed pond, where he raised cygnets for the table in the big house.