Swan Rescue Operation Chronicles

The Rescue of a Swan

Last Sunday morning, as usual, I took my dog for a walk and noticed some strange commotion on the pond. I got closer and saw two swans attacking and pecking at another one!

Where did the third swan even come from? I had thought that this part of the park was home to just one pair of swans, which simply flew from one pond to another.

They quickly managed to corner the third swan in a ditch surrounded by wire mesh on both sides. At one point, they pushed him underwater so forcefully that he accidentally got trapped under the mesh by the water. Eventually, the poor swan hid in the bushes while the other two waited nearby.

I decided to watch, wondering if he might be able to escape on his own. About 30-40 minutes later, he seemed to regain his strength, but it became clear that the mesh and the edge were too high for him to climb or jump over, and taking off from that thick grass looked impossible. Whenever he poked his head out, the other two would immediately swim closer, forcing him to hide again.

For a long time, no one but me seemed to notice this situation—the scuffle had been brief, and the swan had mostly been hiding. A couple of elderly British people walked by, and I tried to ask them for help. "Nature will sort itself out," was their response. Okay, I thought, off you go then!

I decided to stroll around the park and search for staff. Then I remembered that all this was happening at the male pond and it would be best to approach the lifeguards. When I returned, there was already a full rescue operation underway. I felt a bit disappointed that I had missed most of it!

During that time, one of the attacking swans had also found himself in a trap while trying to get at the poor guy. They managed to wrangle him out, but the rescuer was literally pulling the struggling one out with her bare hands!

I later approached them to chat and found out that she was the caretaker for the swans and other birds in our park. She even has a dedicated Instagram page with 21k followers, swansofhampsteadheath. She explained that it was a very dangerous situation, as swans are highly territorial. If no one intervenes, they can peck another to death. It turns out there are two pairs of swans living on neighboring ponds. Next time I see something like this, I should contact her immediately!

I mentioned that I filmed the whole rescue operation on my phone. "Would you like me to send it to you?" They were thrilled! I sent everything via AirDrop, and just yesterday, I saw that they posted the footage on their page!

So, I may not have saved the swan in the end, but I certainly played the role of a content creator during the rescue mission!