On Tuesday night's regular jaunt down the tow path I spotted a mature (big, white) swan having a proper go at a younger (fluffy, grey) one; having trapped it at one of the locks and, after flying at it at full pelt proceeding to repeatedly peck at its neck and drive it into the bank.
By the time I'd located an appropriately-sized branch to tentatively ward off the aggressor a few people had gathered and we collectively minced over what - if anything - we should / could do about the situation. After a while of our standing guard the juvanile ventured out of the lock towards the opposite bank and out of reach of my peacekeeping stick - inviting another serving of abuse from its attacker.
Fortunately the victim this time managed to scramble up onto the bank but had nowhere to go in the dense undergrowth, while it's assailant waited patiently for it to come within range again. Fortunately a few well-placed sticks chucked in close proximity to the adult persuaded it to do one and it buggered off down the canal.
While this unfolded one of our impromptu posh-goose-peacekeeping team (let's call her "K") had located and phoned a local-ish swan whisperer for guidance.
It was suggested that this might be a territorial issue and the young one had gotten separated from its family; possibly the group of two adults and four young further up the canal in the direction it'd been heading when attacked.
Eventually the victim ventured down from the bank and swam back in the direction it'd come from while we followed it along the bank. We passed under a bridge to find two adults (presumably the one that was having a go and its mate) aggressively swimming in our direction; fortunately missing their target as it'd disappeared into some undergrowth / behind a boat.
At that point I had to depart, and left "K" keeping an eye on proceedings..
The following day I randomly bumped into "K" a bit further up the tow path. She told me that the juvanile had been spotted again and another chap, "A", who's regularly on the tow path had once more saved it from a shoeing from the others.
Sadly the poor little sod had made it all the way up the canal to what we thought might be its family only to be chased off by the adults; perhaps because it'd been gone too long and they'd disowned it - its place possibly taken by a somewhat incongruous duck in the group.
"K" told me that the swan folks has suggested it was too young to survive on its own but they were too busy to do anything about it, so it had to spend another night on its own before they could visit and try to catch it.
Afterwards I bumped into "A"; which was really nice as I recognised him from many nice little interactions I'd had on the tow path previously; remembering his receptiveness / appreciation to my attempts to be considerate when passing on the bike
Today rolled around and once more I found myself on the canal - this time a lot earlier than usual and I assumed I'd not see anyone involved in the previous days' events. I recognised "K" with a couple of other folks, and as I got closer I saw that one happened to have a large Ikea bag over her shoulder with a somewhat resigned grey head poking out at the end of a long neck.
Evidently the swan folks had made it out, located and caught our little outcast; their plan apparently being to chuck him in with a load of other reject / orphaned birds which they then release in batches so they have a bit of a support network once out in the wild.
While it was a shame that the young bird in question wasn't to be reunited with its family, it sounds like it has a brighter future ahead than was likely had we done nothing. It was also really nice that purely by chance I happened to repeatedly bump into those who'd been managing the situation over the past few days and get some closure on the outcome. I also saw "A" again afterwards so passed on the happy news to him.
While we're both clearly misanthropes I think It warmed our hardened hearts that collectively, along with K's management and the help of the folks at the swan sanctuary we'd done something to make the world a slightly less sh*tty place
By the time I'd located an appropriately-sized branch to tentatively ward off the aggressor a few people had gathered and we collectively minced over what - if anything - we should / could do about the situation. After a while of our standing guard the juvanile ventured out of the lock towards the opposite bank and out of reach of my peacekeeping stick - inviting another serving of abuse from its attacker.
Fortunately the victim this time managed to scramble up onto the bank but had nowhere to go in the dense undergrowth, while it's assailant waited patiently for it to come within range again. Fortunately a few well-placed sticks chucked in close proximity to the adult persuaded it to do one and it buggered off down the canal.
While this unfolded one of our impromptu posh-goose-peacekeeping team (let's call her "K") had located and phoned a local-ish swan whisperer for guidance.
It was suggested that this might be a territorial issue and the young one had gotten separated from its family; possibly the group of two adults and four young further up the canal in the direction it'd been heading when attacked.
Eventually the victim ventured down from the bank and swam back in the direction it'd come from while we followed it along the bank. We passed under a bridge to find two adults (presumably the one that was having a go and its mate) aggressively swimming in our direction; fortunately missing their target as it'd disappeared into some undergrowth / behind a boat.
At that point I had to depart, and left "K" keeping an eye on proceedings..
The following day I randomly bumped into "K" a bit further up the tow path. She told me that the juvanile had been spotted again and another chap, "A", who's regularly on the tow path had once more saved it from a shoeing from the others.
Sadly the poor little sod had made it all the way up the canal to what we thought might be its family only to be chased off by the adults; perhaps because it'd been gone too long and they'd disowned it - its place possibly taken by a somewhat incongruous duck in the group.
"K" told me that the swan folks has suggested it was too young to survive on its own but they were too busy to do anything about it, so it had to spend another night on its own before they could visit and try to catch it.
Afterwards I bumped into "A"; which was really nice as I recognised him from many nice little interactions I'd had on the tow path previously; remembering his receptiveness / appreciation to my attempts to be considerate when passing on the bike
Today rolled around and once more I found myself on the canal - this time a lot earlier than usual and I assumed I'd not see anyone involved in the previous days' events. I recognised "K" with a couple of other folks, and as I got closer I saw that one happened to have a large Ikea bag over her shoulder with a somewhat resigned grey head poking out at the end of a long neck.
Evidently the swan folks had made it out, located and caught our little outcast; their plan apparently being to chuck him in with a load of other reject / orphaned birds which they then release in batches so they have a bit of a support network once out in the wild.
While it was a shame that the young bird in question wasn't to be reunited with its family, it sounds like it has a brighter future ahead than was likely had we done nothing. It was also really nice that purely by chance I happened to repeatedly bump into those who'd been managing the situation over the past few days and get some closure on the outcome. I also saw "A" again afterwards so passed on the happy news to him.
While we're both clearly misanthropes I think It warmed our hardened hearts that collectively, along with K's management and the help of the folks at the swan sanctuary we'd done something to make the world a slightly less sh*tty place
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