Forum Topic

Swans at Strand on the Green

What’s the record for the number seen at one time?  I’ve just seen 43, strung out from the railway bridge to near the Bell & Crown.

Rupert Holderness ● 93d9 Comments

Fantastic!!

Juliet Hogg ● 91d

I wonder why we have such a splendid showing this year?I have notice an increase over the last few years around Chiswick Mall but this year has been exceptional.At one time there were lots cormorants which feed on the fish but numbers are noticeably down whereas Swans feed on vegetation with numbers noticeably up.Could it be that the sewerage entering the river has negatively affected fish numbers but acted as a fertilizer to the vegitation?This is pure speculation on my part but changes happen for a reason and there has, it seems, some shift in the bird population types.

Adrian Irving ● 91d

How about, Saturday nite at the duckpond, by the Cougars!

Nicholas Beard ● 91d

The playing of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" comes to mind.Doesn't the City Barge pub play that sort of music when an opportunity arises?

Jim Lawes ● 91d

They come further inland when there is stormy weather around.

Janice Evans ● 92d

I can confirm Rupert's observations. I came out of the City Barge after a family lunch about 3.30 and was amazed by the beautiful array of swans stretching all the way along the river from Kew Bridge. I didn't have the patience to count them, but they certainly added to the enjoyment of a lovely summer afternoon.

Colin Jordan ● 92d

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brentford_AitApparently the notorious pub on Brentford Ait was called the Swan or the Three Swans and it closed in 1796. The Swan Steps at the east end of Waterman's Park remember its access route.

Richard Greenhough ● 93d

43! Amazing.The badge worn on the Strand on the Green School uniform in the old days ...was a SWAN ... and no wonder.The old School magazine was called"The Swan" too!I believe that the " once upon a time" pub on Brentford Ait (upstream from Kew Bridge) was called 'the Swan ...or the White Swan.So they have history in the area.

Jim Lawes ● 93d

"A flock of nearly 80 white storks has been seen in Cornwall for the first time since the Middle Ages.The last breeding pair to be recorded in Britain was in 1416, nesting on a cathedral in Edinburgh."

Adrian Irving ● 93d