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Cygnet deaths - likely cause (1 Viewer)

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pondhammer

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The pair of mute swans on our local pond (SW London) had 7 cygnets, about seven weeks ago - but these have been whittled down to two now.
We have never found any bodies, and are mystified - the cygnets all looked healthy, yet the next day, there was one less....

Now worried that none will survive, at this rate

There are foxes in the area, and currently they are getting the blame, rightly or wrongly.

Any thoughts as to the cause?
 
If there are other mute swans in the area they would attempt to drown the cygnets if they wander on their patch. To me it does not sound out of the ordinary for the pair to be left with two....
 
There are no other swans on the pond
The weather is / has been good
The cygnets looked healthy.
So, what are the possible causes of death?
Cheers
 
A similar thing has happened at my local patch where there's only one pair that breed. Last year they had 7 Cygnets and within 24 hours they were down to 3.

There're many predators around that could be the cause. Grey Herons, Corvids, Stoat, Mink, Pike etc.
 
I work on Nature Reserve where we had had a similar problem for the last 2 years. Generally speaking adult Swans are apt at protecting their young from most forms of land and or aerial predation and we were able to, for one reason or another, rule out culprits such as Mink, Grey Herons, Foxes etc.

The apparent answer came a few weeks ago, when I witnessed both adult Swans rearing up and lunging at 'something' under the water that was unsettling the cygnets on the surface. As Pike are known to take wildfowl certainly up to the size of Tufted Duck it is almost certainly the cause of cygnet loss at my site at least. It is possible that Pike predation accounts for more cygnet losses than is generally thought.

Hope this of some help.
 
I don't think there are any pike, but there are quite large (2 ft) carp.

There is at least one terrapin (a Red-Eared Slider, I think), but it is only 10" (max) head to tail. It looks quite small compared to the cygnets. There is a heron, but again, I don't think it could dispose of the body.....

My own suspicions are land based (ie dogs, yobs, foxes, cars etc)
 
Apodemus said:
In one gulp!!

Carp are not predatory, as long as you are not a piece of water-plant or a worm.
Click to expand...

They will take the occasional dead or seriously ill fish etc. Pike may account for odd waterfowl but doubt they would have the impact were talking about here.

I imagine mink to be one of the most devastating as I would imagine they are difficult for a adult swan to deal with on land or water. Also see no reason why yob's would take a carcass? Maybe killed by yobs and eaten buy foxes?

Guess we may never know.

karpman
 
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