Burlescombe SWAN needs a helping hand
By Arminel Scott
This swan lives on the Grand Western Canal and is often at Burlescombe . I have known him and his partner and their large broods of cygnets , which they manage to rear until it ’ s time to fly off and look for territories of their own in the autumn , for three years now . speed things up . This worked very well and there were definitely no wounds so he could go back to the canal as soon as we were confident he was totally dry .
Once released , I checked on him – all was well – his pen ( female swan ) was on eggs in their usual spot and he was busy patrolling . Then a few days later I revisited and he was just where I usually see him and his families of previous years . It was so nice to see him – he has seven cygnets this year and as usual is a beautifully attentive father .
So , to say the least , I was a bit alarmed to see that he had been admitted to the Centre covered in blood . The good news was that no wounds could be found so it may be that he bled from his beak and spread it all over his feathers whilst preening .
I was aware that his partner was already sitting on eggs as I kayak along that stretch of the canal fairly regularly . It ’ s a joint effort so the longer he was away from home the more vulnerable she and the eggs would be .
We hoped that he would wash off most of the blood by being in the clean water of the pool he had been assessed in but this wasn ’ t successful so we decided to wash him to