IT’S easy to take swans for granted, they scavenge for bread with mallards in parks, are big, white, unmistakable!

Many will have tags on their legs and are monitored by volunteers who they get to know but they can be intimidating if strangers gets too close.

They are also an avian success story having increased to about 7,000 breeding pairs plus an estimated 40,000 juvenile birds. This is probably due to the ban in the 1970s on lead weights used by fishermen as about 3,500 swans were dying annually from lead poisoning. Our milder winters recently also decrease winter mortality and increase clutch size.

To the uninitiated all swans are ‘swans’ but Whooper and Bewick’s both overwinter here from the Arctic and most return there for the summer. Both are distinguished by having a yellow bill rather than the orange of the Mute.

I am concentrating on the Mute whose graceful appearance belies it’s quarrelsome nature as it defends it’s territory aggressively. It’s name is misleading as it can hiss, snort and trumpet and we can hear loud honking as v-shaped skeins of birds fly overhead. They can appear clumsy and far too heavy when taking off from water, paddling energetically with their huge feet but once airborne they are a magnificent and impressive sight, neck outstretched, huge wings and flight feathers producing a loud throbbing hum. At one and a half metres long with a wingspan of over 2 metres and average weight 10 kilo they are not to be messed with!

Often a flock feeds in fields beside Skipton canal in late Autumn and Winter when water weed dies off.These flocks are usually of immature birds yet to find a mate and, as well as safety in numbers, they like to be in fields near drinking water and to sleep safe from their main natural enemy - foxes.

Once partnered up they build huge nests (up to 13 feet across and 3 feet high) and tend to keep to themselves. 4 to 7 brown ‘ugly ducklings ‘ emerge after about 4 weeks incubation. Cygnets can often be seen taxied by the adult. Regarding monogamy, they do indeed usually pair for life but separate if they fail to successfully raise young.

Their lovely courtship ritual creating that familiar heart shaped image is, prosaically, partly due to their side vision being better that forward vision!

Next time you are strolling riverside take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the swans: one of the success stories for our wildlife.

wharfedale-nats.org.uk