Black Swan

I have a picture, Treeve, of an Australian black swan next to a mute swan in a backwater of the River Dart at Dittisham where my son lives. I wondered if the black swan had come from the river that runs down through the town at Dawlish since it is not a common sight to see it mingling in the wild there:http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6558/emillcreektuesmorn29nov.jpg The same goes for this whooper swan seen at Drift: http://picturepenzance.co.uk/photos/files/6/4/b-driftlake_swans-06mar10_29_.jpg

Unsure as to the origins of the Dawlish Swans, maybe these can now be investgated

There are lots of pens (not penns!) to house all the common birds and other exotic ducks overnight to ptotect them. There are quite a few black swans there so I don't think one would be quite right to call them wild there but the one at Dittisham is very unusual. A local gent told me it had been there for four weeks and had been bullied at first but seemed now to have been accepted and had settled in with the mute swans.