Wildlife groups have rescued goslings from a Brighton park pond to stop them being killed by swans and seagulls.
While spotting ducklings and goslings in Queens Park is a sign that spring is here, people are often shocked when they see them being attacked by territorial swans or even swallowed whole by gulls.
In recent years, all the young ducks and geese have been killed. This year, two groups of bird rescuers have taken some of the goslings and ducklings away.
Justin King, of the South Coast and Bird Volunteer Network, took two grey lag goslings to the Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton on Sunday, April 21.
He said: “I spent four hours in the freezing cold water trying to catch all four members of the family. Only three were caught and it was decided by the above named charity to release the mother and take in the goslings.
“A week before, another volunteer group at first removed two babies from the white geese, were then met with criticism for doing so, then returned to remove the parents.
“I understand there is a ranger in this park, but year after year, this situation keeps arising and not surprisingly Brighton and Hove City Council have done nothing.
“I am now told that the young ducklings have also been taken. The situation there is out of control and this should not be left to volunteers.”
Mr King said his group, which receives no funding, will be suspending rescues over the summer because of a lack of resources.
However, the Friends of Queens Park said while the situation was difficult because the ducklings and goslings had two sets of predators – but ultimately the ecosystem was being balanced.
Geoffrey Bowden, chair of the Friends of Queens Park, said: “Our park ranger has been dealing with this issue for many years. For a long time swans were not present and then people complained just as much about the herring gulls killing the ducklings.
“Experts suggest that even if the swans were not present, successful breeding is still not guaranteed. Seagulls would then become the predators. It’s also quite likely that more swans will move in.
“Ducklings and goslings have about a 50-50 chance of survival, hence larger clutches, when there isn’t a predator heavy bias and we have two lots of predators with which to contend.
“It is also the ecosystem finding it’s balance. After all, if we had lots more wild ducks and geese, the pond would quickly become over populated.
“On a brighter note, the Moorhens are very happily hiding in the planting cages from predators.”
Local authorities have no statutory duty to rescue wildlife from other wild threats.
Isn’t this how nature works? Should we interfere? Is it even legal to take wildlife that is currently healthy and “rescue” it? After all, couldn’t other less scrupulous groups take anything from our parks and claim to be rescuing it or them in case they could be damaged, injured or killed? Can we take any plants or animals we think? After all, some of them will always die early – so we could be saving them….
I’m not saying that this group isn’t trying to help – but not convinced. Also by “saving” some smaller animals on the food chain, isn’t that risking the survival of those further along the chain? Can’t we just let nature do its wonderful thing and self-regulate?
Can people pls keep in mind volunteers don’t get paid for doing this
Post their fundraiser. all wildlife services are collapsing
https://gofund.me/01c4e4f0
I saw one of the swans deliberately attacking one of these gosling a couple of weeks ago. The gosling had fallen in the water and the swan was trying to drown it. It looked like the swan was doing this for fun so my partner and I, plus a man passing by, managed to get it out of the water to be reunited with its family. I hadn’t seen the goslings, or parents, for a while and am so relieved to find out that they have been saved. Thank you volunteers.
Can the ranger not build some sort of shelter in the pond so that the smaller birds can hide if necessary?
If Mr King puts some posters around the park I’m sure locals would be happy to donate to help his group continue its work.
The headline “Killer swans and gulls” is certainly designed to be emotive.
Swans are very territorial and will attack geese and their young if they get too close to their nests. That suggests it is more to do with the size of the ponds and the number of swans,geese and ducks.
Perhaps the overcrowding needs to be addressed but that will not help with seagulls.
The goslings didn’t stand a chance, I’m glad they were rescued. That being said, in future, efforts need to be better organised. An adult goose was nearly seriously injured and a gosling nearly killed as a direct result of the intervention, it was chaotic.