Llangwm Pill

From Graham Brace - The trio of black swans have been settled in and around Llangwm Pill for 5 weeks now and show no signs of moving on (they're being well fed by the locals!). Their presence is spooking our two resident mute swans who have learned to maintain a wary and respectable distance from them. There has been much posturing and threatening display from both sides and early one morning a couple of weeks ago I witnessed the larger of the blacks (the cob I presume) flying at and pinning the mute cob to the bank. A scuffle ensued and eventually the mute swan broke free. The black swans certainly seen to be the most aggressive.

I have seen them several times now out of the water and none of them are ringed. There is much speculation as to where they came from. I'm not sure of the status of 'wild' black swans in this country but I gather there is a well established group in Dawlish in Devon. Could they have originated there I wonder? 

There are certainly more redshank around at present than I've seen for many a year. On a receding tide on Tuesday afternoon I counted 63 individuals on a freshly emerging mud flat in the middle of Llangwm Pill with another 8 stragglers around the shore. There was a single dunlin, still in summer garb, with them. Possibly the redshanks have had a good breeding season. On Monday 4th August I saw the first of the teal to return with a female in one of the gullies. On the 6th there were 4 females present.