Swan & Cygnet Rescue

This beautiful mother swan and her cygnets had a bit of a tricky start. Very sadly her mate was found dead, whilst she was sitting on their eggs.

Not too long after, the mother was attacked by other swans (likely a territory dispute) which caused her to flee the nest; she was then found quite exhausted and distressed. As the poor mother needed care, and we knew the eggs would not survive without her, the whole family were collected by one of our rescuers.

We kept the 8 eggs incubated whilst mum had her treatment and as soon as she was well enough, we put them all in a nice private room on a new nest. It did not take long at all for the eggs to start to hatch under the female’s watchful eye. We gave her plenty of space and privacy to make sure she was comfortable and were so delighted when all 8 eggs hatched!

Once they were all up and about, we carefully walked the family to a new pen (with their own private pool), which will be their residence whilst in our care. All are doing brilliantly; she is a doting mother and the youngsters are all swimming and feeding well. Once the babies are a bit older, we plan to find them a safe home, without an existing pair of swans, so she can bring her young up in the wild.

(Please note, the swan family are not viewable to the public when coming to the Visitor Centre).