Twelve swans on Marine Lake die from mystery illness

Hi Kathy

Let's hope the postmortems show up the reason for the deaths, and if it's an infection I hope the rest of the birds can be treated.

hi Chris

I hope so to as it will be a stark warning as the area has had a history of problems in the past - and the issues that are problematic need to be sorted

The birds have antibotics so that is a start

Regards

Kathy and Dave

I think that the issue relates to the water health that counts, which affect the wildfowl. I found a link about keeping a pond clean and clear let alone large areas of water which the water birds require.

http://www.wwt.org.uk/latest-news/me...oblem-is-algae

From what has been said, it appears that it the growth in the water becoming clogged up to being clear ... and not going too much either way so there is enough oxygen in the water.

I remember last year having a walk around my local park in Bedford....Priory Park has a boating Lake like so many parks in the UK.
I stood and watched this large hover craft type of machine skipping over the surface of the water. I asked what the man was doing, (I am nosy LOL), and he said he cleared the boating lake from algae 2 times a year simply from this one area of water.

There was a large plant up of species around the edge of the Boating lake around the waters edge...plants such as Lillies.... last year and the Sedge Warblers loved that a lot.

Is this part of keeping the problem at bay, and that is keeping large areas of water clean and clear, so they become nutrient bound.

Regards

Kathy and Dave

This is very sad and on my patch. 12 Swans have died and 30 taken into quarantine so far.

I'm keeping an eye on this and will report back here with any news.

This is the latest from the local press

http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2011/02/25/more-marine-lake-swans-hit-by-mystery-illness-taking-death-toll-to-at-least-seven-with-29-in-a-critical-condition-101022-28231035/

Pipit