Can anyone help my partner saw yesterday on the River Clyde near to the Erskine Bridge a black swan - he said it was definitely a black swan and it had a red beak. Can anyone give me any more information on this as I cannot find anything in any of the books we have.
Thank you.
Sightings of black swans have become reasonably common. They can be found on almost any water body, having similar habitat requirements to mute swans and are often found in the same areas.
Black swans are native to Australia and are the state bird of Western Australia. They were brought to the UK as ornamental birds like peacocks and golden pheasants. Like many other captive birds, they occasionally find their way out into the wild.
They are similar in size to the closely related mute swan. They appear all black when swimming but they have white primary wing feathers, which can be seen in flight. The bill is red with a broad white band on the tip.
Black swans were also introduced to New Zealand where a breeding population has become well established. The New Zealand population increased dramatically because they faced very little competition or predation.
There have been occasional reports of successful breeding attempts in the UK but they have not become established. They face competition from our native swans so it is unlikely they could become as well established here as they have in New Zealand.
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Black swans are an introduced species to the UK from Australia as an ornamental bird so won't always appear in books of UK or European wildlife unless the book has a section on introduced species. They don't tend to breed much here in the UK. BTO has a page for reporting sigtings of black swans in the UK and there have a distribution map of sightings as well - http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/taking_part/blackswan.htm
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
I remember seeing black swans at Slimbridge (The Wildfowl Trust as it was then called) nearly fifty years ago. I took a photo of one and still have it...... somewhere!
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Thank you so much to everyone who replied. I will give my partner all the information when I go home after work. Yes he did say, now that I think on it, that it did have a white stripe across its beak. Thank you. My an Australian bird and it is now on the River Clyde - poor thing!!!!!