They were getting on well when I came down with the dog on Saturday afternoon. He was still chasing the young ones though. That typical behavior for a breeding pair. Lets hope they can get on better than last year!

I,m really really shocked to read on your blog, which I accessed because of worries over our own local swans, that your last-year cygnet (Lucky, I suppose) was harrassed to death by the parents. That is truly terrible. The young bird should have been caught , when it came for food – -and surely they eat bread from people – - and taken off the pond to a site where there is a group of young pre-breeding swans. The Friends should have a swan bag, be on good terms with cygnets so that they will come over to eat, and know how to grasp the baby by its neck & catch it. Or ask a local wildlife rescue service to come for it. You also need to research local areas for non-breeding groups – - – or any kind of swan-groups. The cygnet MUST be helped to leave the parents if they are in danger from them. Also a swan with a hook can be caught and taken to a local vet to remove hook, then put back, I did it with one of our babies, it was fine & back with the family within an hour. Swans really need to be managed, just like you would manage fighting or bullying or harassing in dogs or in farm animals. Its not just a matter of getting good photographs of them, I feel we have a moral duty to intervene.

[Abridged response]

……….. re the entries on the blog about the swans. Things are not actually as bad as the blog makes out – but there is a reason for such entries in that it raises the profile of our main asset i.e. the Black Swans. Have you noticed our logo consists of Black Swans?

I take your point re the cygnets being harassed by the parents. We have previously had cygnets removed from the lake by the Yorkshire Swan Rescue and released elsewhere and we do try and keep an eye on the cygnets as best we can. The one that died sadly fooled us – we thought everything was fine and then ‘Lucky’ disappeared and when he was found the RSPCA were called took him away and apparently died in custody. Not ideal I agree but we have learnt a lot from the sad experience and we now know what to look for. We have previously been advised by BTO not to interfere with the natural course of things and let them find their own way.

The swan with the hook in its beak did have it removed but the picture was quite emotive and got us a lot of support from park visitors that’s why I used it. Fishing on the lake and the associated wildlife do not mix very well and such photo’s help us drive home the message that fishing comes with responsibilities. This is an area we are working on.

You will have noticed from the blog that we have three full grown cygnets from this year and all are flying. There is a difference between the situation with ‘Lucky’ and these three. The ‘father’ of these three was killed earlier in the year……… by a pure miracle a few weeks later a new one flew in and teamed up with the pen. We think the initial harassment was just part of the ‘norming’ routine because we have been down with them over the last week and they all appear to be getting along fine – but we will monitor the situation, especially when (hopefully) they have new cygnets in the spring.

Like you we are not experts but volunteers trying our best for the wildlife. We will take advice and help from any source that we can so thanks very much for yours – I am in total agreement with you in that where appropriate we have to intervene.

I hope other than some of the pictures you did enjoy visiting our web site. You will be aware that this urban public park has many problems but we are managing to sort them one at a time. I don’t know where you are from in the country but if you are ever in the Doncaster area it would be nice if you contacted us and we would be delighted to show you round the park and introduce you to our very own swans!