WHAT a strange and sad story: the controversy over the swans on the Itchen Navigation near Wharf Hill.

Winchester College, the landowner, has removed the adult birds and prevented the eggs from hatching.The birds have been taken to a secret location. The male swan this year and last year has been getting ‘aggressive’ with people approaching the nest and also attacking the college boys’ boats.

It is odd that this is a new issue. Birds and rowers have been co-existing on that stretch of water since the 19th century.

READ MORE: Seven swan eggs destroyed by Winchester College under licence from Natural England

One cannot helping feeling the college has over-reacted. The threat posed by a swan has been over-stated. It is a bit of an urban myth that they can break your arm. Surely a more sensible way of dealing with this would have been to close the footpath that runs past their nest during the hatching season. There is no guarantee that the pair will not return at some future date or perhaps another swans will build a nest in the same place. Then all the college would have achieved is a spectacular PR own goal.

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