Dundee wildlife lovers are so worried about cygnets in a dried out Fife pond they are trying to fill it with tap and bottled water.
Water levels in Tayport Pond are dangerously low, endangering the lives of a group of swans and their 10 cygnets.
The hot weather and lack of rain has dried out the birds’ habitat. That has left the swans floundering in the mud and at the mercy of passing dogs.
One Tibetean Spaniel crawled across the mud to attack the swans, cygnets and ducks while three Dundee women tried to fill the pond with plastic bottles on Friday afternoon.
Swans ‘caked in mud’
Heather Lawson suggested they have no choice but to take matters in their own hands in order to save the birds.
“When you’re seeing a swan that can’t swim and it’s pushing itself through the mud.
“They are caked in mud. They can’t clean themselves. They’re losing weight and no-one seems to be concerned.”
Heather has been regularly travelling from Dundee to watch the cygnets grow. She brought bottled water with her in an attempt to fill the pond.
“I don’t know if it’s detrimental or not. But they are [the swans] enjoying getting their heads stuck in clean water.
“Because that is a mud bath.”
Dog attacks cygnets leaving onlookers aghast
A Tibetean Spaniel got away from its owner and attacked the birds while I spoke to Heather.
A small crowd of around 17 people gathered to watch as the dog’s owner struggled to bring the animal under control.
Heather was visibly distressed by the scene and said the dog would have not been able to reach the birds, had the water level been higher.
“The dog’s getting in the water,” she said before the dog attacked the swan. “That’s exactly my point. And nobody cares.”
The group believe that a lack of maintenance to the reeds in the pond has made the situation worse.
Should authorities fill pond with sea water?
Sarah Grant is a carer from Dundee. She has been visiting the pond to see the swans for the past four years.
She said she had contacted experts for advice and they had suggested filling the pond with seawater from the Tay estuary, roughly a hundred metres or so from the pond.
The pond was previously a pleasure pond before conversion into a wildlife habitat.
She said: “I come down every day to see the swans. I have watched the pond decline and decline and have just been told that’s just nature.
“But it is not a natural pond so it needs an intervention.
“If the cygnets can’t get out of the pond then they will starve.”
She and a friend were helping to fill the pond with bottles of tap water taken from Dundee.
“It’s not going to harm them,” she added.
Pumping sea water ‘not a good idea’
Liberal Democrat councillor Jonny Tepp initially tried to defend the water level in the pond. He said it was a result of the dry weather and the feeder burn drying up.
He said it was his understanding that the animals would move to find food if they were struggling.
The councillor has set up a urgent meeting with the head of the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust on Friday evening to get more expert advice on what should be done next to help the birds.
“We know there is a water scarcity situation. The alternative of pumping in seawater – I have been advised – is not a good idea due to the animals that don’t like sea water.”
John Rodigan is senior manager for the environment at Fife Council.
He said the biodiversity “impacted by the dry conditions will recover quickly with the rain predicted over the next few days.”
He added: “Ponds are not subject to routine maintenance because of their natural ecosystems but we will follow up on any particular concerns such as the reeds at Tayport Pond.”
Conversation