This Black swan was a nice surprise during my ramble around Barry today. Though it wasn’t ringed, it may well have been an escapee from a wildfowl collection somewhere, which is the case with almost all British Black swans. As far as I’m aware, these now-wild birds have not yet established a self-sustaining local population so are not yet considered official British birds … but they must be close to reaching that level.

Back in August 2016, I wrote a longer blog post on Black swans, using photos I’d taken in New Zealand, where there is a large wild population. You can see that blog here.