Natural order may be restored :: swanpool.org.uk :: Swanpool Local Nature Reserve

A swan left alone and bereft after his mate was killed by a fox looks to have found love again at Falmouth's Swanpool...

The cob - as male swans are known - had been grieving the death of the pen, or female swan, who had been found with bite marks in her neck.

With swans normally mating for life, the grieving cob chased off any other swans attempting to use the pool and abandoned the pair's cygnets, who had to be taken to safety to an RSPCA reserve near Taunton.

But a week ago the cob quite literally swanned off, leaving the pool overnight. If the early bird catches the worm then the late night swan catches a woman, because when he arrived back the next morning he was joined by a feathered friend.

The pair have now been at the lake for more than a week.

According to Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset, swans - who are mute and have no sense of smell - communicate with eye contact and moving their head from side to side.

It is thought the cob may have gone to the Helford River, where there is a swan colony.

Pete Lochrie, who runs Swanpool beach and nature reserve, said: "It's an extraordinary turnaround. There is even a possibility they might breed this year."

There is another twist to the "tail" however. Could it be that the cob has flown off with another swan's mate? For almost as soon as the pair arrived at Swanpool, a gang of seven more swans appeared, trying to get onto the pool but getting chased off by the cob and the new pen.

At the end of last week the seven swans were biding their time on Swanpool Beach.

"It's almost as though our cob is pinching his bird. It's absolutely fascinating," said Mr Lochrie.

A rather less romantic explanation, however, could be that they are last year's cygnets attempting to return to the nest.

Emma Goodfellow, Falmouth and Penryn Packet