ALL ABOUT THE MUTE SWAN
By Carol Noble
The mute swan is a species we see at West Hatch throughout the year . They come to us for various reasons such as crash landing , attack by dog , fishing line entanglement , collision and territorial disputes .
Swans are highly territorial birds during the breeding season but later in the year when the family has grown , they become quite sociable and can congregate in large numbers over winter .
Mid March the pairs begin to nest and by early May we start receiving our first cygnets . Cygnets are very delicate and need specialist care . They need time to develop into fully flight feathered , adult sized birds that are fit for release back into the wild . This can take up to five or six months .
As swans are sociable birds , as soon as they are medically fit enough we give each bird its own coloured ring for identification purposes and mix them together as a group . This reduces stress and allows a more natural behaviour from the birds until we are able to release them back to the wild .
Contamination unfortunately is quite common for swans and at West Hatch we are fully equipped for washing birds that have become contaminated . The staff are trained and experienced in washing all bird species , the swan being the largest .