Beaufort Hill Ponds & Woodlands
Mute Swans
Mute swans have been breeding on the Ponds nearly every year since 2009, producing up to eight cygnets, a selection of images captured over the years appear in the gallery below, including several taken by Les Price - see paragraph below
JUNE 2016- PHOTO OF SWAN PUBLISHED IN "THE TIMES" NEWSPAPER.
Les Price who lives near the Woodlands, regularly takes photos around the site, and captured one of the swans landing on the water and was recently published in "THE TIMES" newspaper, but for some reason they cropped the photo and it does not show the refelection in the water - see actual photo.
The caption below the photo says - "Splash of colour - A swan comes in to land in bright sunshine at Beaufort Hill Ponds in Brecon Beacons, South Wales "
Swan Rescue
AUGUST 2012 - SWAN RESCUE CARRIED OUT ON THE LOWER BOAT POND.
Just prior to the August Bank Holiday, a Chandlers Road resident spotted one of the adult swans was in some distress, caused by an anglers line. Other residents got involved and through the Internet, came across a group called ' SWAN RESCUE - SOUTH WALES.'
The following is a report of the rescue carried out to save the swan.
About Swan Rescue - Swan Rescue South Wales is based at High Cross near Newport and run by Ellen Kershaw and Peter Martin.
The following report of the rescue was submitted by Peter Martin :-
"The rescue was accomplished finally at the fourth visit, and succeeded purely because of Steve's skill and experience, but also helped greatly by virtue of the fact the male swan was (still is) in moult, and was therefore flightless.
It is correct to state the swan was in distress; the presence of fishing line in which he had become snared prevented him from eating. Having captured him we were concerned about the presence of a lump in his neck - frequently, this is indicative of a serious internal problem requiring significant veterinary intervention. It was for this reason we took the swan to the National Swan Sanctuary at Shepperton in Surrey in order, as a minimum, to perform a precautionary X-ray. Thankfully this showed there was no such problem; the lump was probably bruising from the pulling of the line over a period of several days. We were also concerned about just how deep the hook at the end of the line was embedded in his neck. This was removed probably more expertly than we would have managed - it was barbed, albeit micro barbed .
NOVEMBER 30th 2013 - SWAN RESCUE ON UPPER BOAT POND
Photographs and report from David Clubb :-
"At around 1230 today, the young swan on the top pond was rescued by Swan Rescue South Wales - See photos attached.
It apparently has a problem with its right wing and cannot fly.
The rescue involved one chap in a canoe who herded the swan into position where another hooked it around the neck and lifted it onto the bank. Sounds a bit drastic but didn`t seem to harm the bird.
They are taking the swan to a sanctury in Shepperton, where it will be looked after they are going to inform me how the bird is after vet examines it."
DECEMBER 30th 2013 - received this message from Ellen Kershaw of South Wales Swan Rescue
The cygnet we 'rescued' a couple of weeks ago from the top pond in Beaufort remains a mystery as the Swan Sanctuary vet could not find any reason for him not flying and it was very apparent when he was taking avoiding action from Steve, our canoeist, his wings seemed in perfect working order. However, he's in the best place now where he can be monitored 24 hours a day.
