The Swan Squad

13/06/2026

MARYLEBONE SLIP - PLYMOUTH

We were upset to receive this picture yesterday.

The gent that took the photo, asked the woman to put her dog on a lead, but he was sworn at.

Please keep your dogs on a lead around wildlife.

11/06/2026

TORRE ABBEY SWAN - UPDATE

This beautiful lady (Abbey) lost her mate, due to an unobservant truck driver. Sadly, she was on a nest at the time.

Abbey laid her seventh egg not long after losing her mate. We're assuming she started incubating the eggs after the seventh and final egg was laid.
We've been monitoring her daily, and the average hatch date has passed. We think it is unlikely that the eggs will now hatch.

Our lovely volunteers will continue to visit her daily. To encourage her off of the nest, we will only be feeding her on the pond.

She will need to come to terms with everything in her own time. We will leave most of the barrier up to continue giving her privacy and some protection.

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ABBEY'S FUTURE

This is Abbey's second mate. The last one flew in and found her.

Potentially another mate will spot her alone and join her on the pond. However, this is not likely to happen during the summer time.

Or, Abbey will eventually leave the pond, and go looking for a flock eg. Brixham harbour. Flocks are a mix of youngsters, and displaced/widowed adults. She will stay in the flock until she finds a suitable mate, then they will fly off to find a territory. If the pond is still available they could make that their home.

09/06/2026

What a cute little family. Their cygnet, will likely be a lovely brown swan when its an adult.

The Black Swan has finally realised that the remaining eggs on the ...

01/06/2026

ONE EYED BEAKY - EXETER QUAY.

This handsome man is what's known as a ferocious beast. We're used to handling fiesty birds, but not when they're as strong as they swan.

He and his partner have had their territory near Exeter Quay for a number of years. He viciously fights any other swans that think they can encroach on "his" space. He thoroughly enjoys the good weather, as it means more canoes and kayaks for him to chase and attack.

A few years ago he caught bird flu, and was left blind in one eye. Around 12 months ago, he had a flight with another male swan, that ended in a brambles bush. This caught his eye and caused issues. Since then it has weeped on and off, but hasn't caused him any issues.

Recently his eye became swollen and infected, so he was brought in. We hoped after a few days of eye drops he would be back out causing mayhem, but sadly the infection was more severe than we thought.

The vet decided the best route, was to remove his eye. He had the surgery, which was susceptible, however, he left most of the vet staff in shock from his naughty behaviour. 😳

He recovered brilliantly. It was hard work giving him his meds and cleaning his eye, we ended up with cuts and bruises everywhere 😆. But it was worth it to see him happy and healthy, back with his partner.

To help us continue our work, if possible please donate to our go fund me...

https://www.gofundme.com/f/devon-and-cornwall-swans/cl/o?utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&lang=en_GB

31/05/2026

EXETER CANAL CYGNET

This little one came in today. It looked like he had an infected wound on his head.

After a clean up, we could see it was a superficial wound, but as it next to his ear it looked like a nasty hole. We sprayed the area with some antiseptic and insecticide, and he was immediately released back to his parents.

23/05/2026

Victoria Park, Paignton

This is little one's had a neck deformity since hatching. The deformity could be due to being cramped in her egg, stuck whilst hatching, or she has a vitamin e deficiency.

She's been doing well, eating, drinking and swimming. However, she's been picked up today as she started to have a few issues.
She started to avoid the water as much as possible as she struggled to constantly keep upright, she's started to get stuck in silly places, and eating has become more of problem.

She's with us for now, and will be taken to The Swan Sanctuary where she can live safely.

19/05/2026

This little lady, was very lucky to have been spotted. She was stick in the mud in Hooe.

The finder picked her up and made her safe for us.

We then went on a hunt for her parents. We found them in Radford lake "swanning" around without a care in the world. Not realising they're missing a baby.

We reunited the cygnet with her family, and gave the parents a lecture on taking better care of their young.

14/05/2026

Hinge and Bracket joined us today. They were taken to the lovely Prickles in a Pickle Hedgehog rescue. The pair were very poorly on arrival, but Judy brought them round and they're looking amazing.

The siblings, brother and sister, were found tangled in lots of brambles on the floor. They were lucky to have been found.

Tawny owls have bred really well this year, with a high success rate.

03/05/2026

We're absolutely speechless!

We've put signs up, posts out saying to not feed this swan. We even put a barrier around her. As food around the nest will attract rats. Rats will attack the eggs and young when they hatch.

This is what our volunteers found yesterday.

She has volunteers visiting daily to feed her.

Reason we are involved... We do not normally have volunteers feed swans on nests, but when this swan was widowed, posts were made by well meaning members of the public, asking for people to feed her. We tried to kerb this by placing a bowl by her and saying to only feed in the bowl and on the water. However this didnt work, so we asked to not feed her and leave it to our volunteers.

If you'd like to help her, please purchase some food via our amazon list

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1U6IK9DT3PDIO?ref_=wl_share

02/05/2026

Whilst replacing a roof these 3 were found. As the roof would no longer have access for the parents to feed the young, they were handed to the resident.

These are very hungry starlings, they're approximately 9 or 10 days old.

Please remember disturbing a nest is illegal. Be careful whilst you're doing garden and building work at this time of year.