Mute swans

[SGHILLUSTRATION]

Hi everyone, where i walk the dog every day i pass a family of mute swans. Unfortunately they're losing the cygnets at about one a week - they started with 8 and are now down to one. The cygnets are pretty big now, anyone know what might be taking them? Foxes?

[Adam Cheeseman]

Most likely foxes now if they are quite big. Initially it would more likely be Carp or Pike grabbing them from below.

Cheers,

Adam

[SGHILLUSTRATION]

I never thought about fish, theyre in a tidal inlet which varies from about 15ft deep to half a foot during the day, flows in to the Tyne - would pike live there?

[rossy]

is their any otters in the area, they will take the cygnets given half the chance, but remember on springwatch, crows had them away, also mink, herons, plenty of predators, its dog eat dog out there, rossy.

[Sledge]

How big are the cygnets? The pair near here hatched six eggs but when the young reached a certain size two wandered off on their own. They're still around occasionally, just not with the family

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Initially it would more likely be Carp or Pike grabbing them from below.

Carp? Its unlikely that a carp would predate a water bird.

Perhaps the most likely explaination is humans, swans particularly in urban environments are particularly prone to attacks from humans, such as shooting, throwing stones etc. Or as mentioned it could be predators or even disease, occasionally cygnets are killed by other swans. Hard to say for sure.

[SGHILLUSTRATION]

Theyre maybe twice the size of a Mallard, dont have any adult feathers yet. Youre right, it could be anything, theyre in a particularly vulnerable spot