Territorial Swans

[SimonBolivar]

We live in a house with a garden running down to a river. When we moved in thirteen years back, there were two swans living on our stretch of river and they raised young every year without interference from other birds or animals.

Since Christmas, two other pairs of swans and a single adult male have moved on to the stretch of river belonging to 'our' pair. The others are extremely aggresive and we think that they may be trying to take over the territory and push our pair out.

We are quite upset to witness all these goings on. Can anyone tell us if this is normal behaviour and what is likely to be the outcome?

[123everton]

Leave em to it, let nature take it's course, or call the R.S.P.B.

[paddywak]

Where I mainly walk Max, a reclaimed pit tip, one of the features is pond about 50 x 20yds which has "belong" to a pair of swans for the last 8 years, a couple of years ago a young swan decided to move in and the original pair set about him that aggressively that the ranger had to take the new comer to the vets. Despite the fact they look so serene and placid swimming about they are in fact extremely territorial and can be very violent in defence of "Their" patch.

[wildwood]

It is likely that the spare cob with the new pair is a young from previous years. If they succeed in ousting your pair, the young will from then only be tolerated in the outer ring of the breeding pair territory.
Unless this is a 'maiden' pair that haven't had a territory before, it is probable that they've been ousted from thier own space by another pair so they may not be able to shift your pair.

The good news is that this means there are plenty of swans about which now ensures that the strongest ones will propagate the species.

[SimonBolivar]

Thank you all for your observations. We are upset about this current stand-off because 'our' pair of swans have been almost like members of our family for years.
The male comes up to our back door on a regular basis, knocks on the glass with his beak and, if we don't answer to feed him, he then walks around to our patio window and knocks on that in an attempt to raise us. His mate is more timid but she also spends a great deal of her time in our garden.

When their cygnets hatch (their nest is in a garden a few houses away) they bring the new brood to show them off to us. When one of their 2009 brood of four was injured in November, we called the RSPCA and the bird was taken away to a sanctuary in Essex for treatment & care.

I don't know how long swans live but you can understand how protective we feel about Gregory & Ziggy.

[123everton]

I see where you're coming from now.