Defending the family

This male swan became very aggressive when a young woman stepped close to throw bread to the cygnets.

As far as I can tell this is the only breeding pair on Airthrey Loch, at Stirling University and many of the overseas students are fascinated by them.

Swans mate for life, though sometimes they do "divorce" following a nesting failure.


The word swan is derived from Old English swan, akin to the German Schwan and Dutch zwaan and Swedish svan, in turn derived from Indo-European root *swen (to sound, to sing).[1] Young swans are known as swanlings or as cygnets, from Greek ??????, kýknos and from the Latin word cygnus ("swan") and the Old French suffix -et ("little"). An adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe (leader of a group); an adult female is a pen.

Just thought you would like to know....