‘Heartbreak’ after sudden death of Queen’s Park swan
LOCAL residents have expressed dismay after one of the much-admired Queen’s Park swans was found dead on its nest.
Park-goers noticed late on Wednesday afternoon that what is believed to be the male of the nesting pair had died.
Although the issue has been reported to Glasgow City Council and Defra, the government’s environment agency, the body is still at the pond.
The birds have been the only swans to make Queen’s Park their home.
Resident Alison Brown said she began feeding the swans during lockdown and is hugely saddened by the loss of the bird.
She said: “They were always part of the park and this is a huge loss.
“The male swan really ruled the park and didn’t allow anything much bigger than a duck to share his space. He was mostly up on the smaller pond but would lumber down and pursue any Greylag goose or other swans that have tried to come in, because he’s not sharing.”
Alison said she is familiar with both swans, having fed them for the past two years, and believes it is the male that has died.
She told of how, at the start of the lockdown, she began going to the pond and went to see the swans as their cygnets had just hatched.
She said: “I started going up to the park at 6.30am and it was beautiful to experience the park at that time.
“Mrs Swan started swimming across to me, followed by the cygnets, but when she saw I didn’t have any food she gave me the most withering look as if to say, ‘I have children and I have nothing to feed them with. How dare you?’”
Alison was very careful with what she fed the birds, taking them iceberg lettuce and dried mealworms. During her daily visits, she said, she met other park regulars doing the same things, including a nurse who would go to see the swans at the end of her shift as a way to unwind. It is understood that Defra will remove the swan’s corpse for tests to establish how it died.
Locals have expressed anger that the corpse is still there days after the swan passed away and it is not known when it will be removed.
The female swan is still in the park.
Alison said: “My daily routine involved feeding the swans and it’s sad not to have that interaction.
“It got to the point with the swans – and no one believes me about this – but I always said ‘hello’ to the swans when they started swimming over and the male started giving a little double grunt back and it was very sweet.
“Just that little interaction with nature is really special and the joy that they gave everyone.
“I remember when the signets hatched in 2020 and the buzz, the whole talk of the park was, ‘the cygnets are out, the cygnets are out’.
“Last year when the eggs didn’t hatch and they didn’t have young, everyone was sad, and not just because they weren’t going to see signets that year but sad for the swans.
“People loved seeing the co-parenting between the swans, and the love between them.
“I will treasure seeing them do their little neckhead dance where they form that heart shape.
“I remember them doing that in front of me and it seemed to speak to that love they had.
“It’s heart-breaking seeing the devastation for the swan that’s left because she’s lost her partner and the young.
“They carry you on an emotional journey and it’s really sad. Really sad.”
Glasgow City Council was contacted for comment.