- Swan Watch July 2026
New Names Announced
At the FECH AGM, held on 13 July, the names chosen for the two adult swans were announced: Wilfred and Odette.
Wilfred after Wilfred Owen, one of the War Poets, who met and wrote with Siegfried Sassoon at the Craiglockhart Hydropathic Hospital nearby after the First World War. (A previous male swan, resident for many years, had been known as Siegfried). Odette, after Princess Odette, the iconic protagonist of the ballet Swan Lake. Transformed into a swan, she glides on an enchanted lake, only permitted to return to her human form at night when the moonlight touches the water. The swan family – Wilfred, Odette and the six cygnets – are thriving on the pond. The cygnets, just over two months old now, are becoming quite independent and sometimes paddle about without their parents in convoy. We will follow their progress with keen interest over the coming months as they grow into adulthood. Wilfred often admires his reflection in the gym windows!
Other water birds on the pond: dozens of Mallards, also juvenile Coots, Moorhens, and Little Grebe chicks. The pond is a busy avian sanctuary.
Feeding the Birds
Please feed the swans and ducks food they like! Don’t give them white bread. It is not good for their digestion and may cause harm.
YES – corn, oats, grains, peas, small amounts of seedy brown bread
NO – white bread
Please do not scatter bird food on the ground – doing so will attract rats. If you want to feed the water birds, please do so from the grassy end of the pond next to the sports centre, or from the semi-circular cobbled platform midway along the south bank. Cast food into the water and avoid it landing on the ground at your feet.