Using local love to makeover Swan Island

Spring cleaning on the canal involved litter picking, straw bale nests and lots of community input.

Operation Swan Island involved lots of people including Kieran driving the power boat, me from sup.at.islington, Andy from the Swan Sanctuary and a local whatsapp group of swan fans. The swan on the right is last year’s cygnet who hasn’t quite left home yet © D for NB

They’re a fussy pair. They aren’t new neighbours, but tend to gravitate back towards the area when they’re bringing up little children, or at least planning to. It’s hard figuring out if this is still a good neighbourhood as there are now at least four towerblocks shading it.

So no surprise that in early spring Mum and Dad, in their smart white coats, keep coming back to inspect. And now the rest of us are panicking that their old nest isn’t good enough for 2025. On the WhatsApp group reports of every sail by are considered. Plus there’s a need for a tidy up: the old, unhatched eggs need removing and two large bales of straw need to be opened to create a cosy nest.

Adding matting to the ramp to help swans and cygnets get in and out of the water. masterminded by Andy from the Swan Sanctuary. It was his first visit to the island although over the years he’s repeatedly helped injured birds in City Road Basin and given important advice about swan welfare. © NB

Then there’s the question of access: the ramp up and down needs improved grip to help the cygnets, especially, get safely on and off the water. Not only can they get stuck, there’s also the risk of them being picked off by hungry gulls. As Andy from the Swan Sanctuary says: “the problem with the canal environment is it is very difficult for birds to get in and out of the water as the sides are too steep.”

Island DIY

When I said I wanted to get more involved in helping nature on Regent’s Canal on my paddleboard journeys, I really hadn’t been expecting this to involve renovation work for swans! Although of course it’s not inside, the swans very much prefer to sit at the head of their smallish floating island and survey whatever happens along the rest of the City Road Basin.

Andrew, Annalia, Gulya on the straw bales with Kieran from Islington Boat Club and Andy from the Swan Sanctuary in the power boat. It’s a tiny oasis in this super urban spot. So many local people keep an eye out for the swans and other birds, especially during breeding season. (c) NB

What’s so lovely is to find out how many local people take pleasure from seeing swans. They buy them special floating food. They take photos. They contact the Swan Sanctuary if any bird is in trouble. And they share the love.

Of course the WhatsApp group aren’t the only people who love the birds - there’s also the youth club that knows them well, one member has even used a Jack Petchey funding award to do even more habitat improvements and grow the other kids’ nature knowledge over this summer. Her first suggestion was to install a nature noticeboard, an old school version of WhatsApp, where the youth club can share info about the birds they spot on Regent’s Canal while they’re out in kayaks. She’s given this great project a rather fab name, Birds’ Eye View.

We collected two trugs of litter including a fish hook. Andrew: “We cleaned up lots of litter. As classic city people its good to live in harmony with the water birds. We always walk past the canal looking out for the birds on our way shopping at Angel.” (c) NB

Further down the canal I’ve heard horrible stories that the swans have been eaten. By a fox this is unfortunate – although it’d be a brave fox to see off a defensive swan beating its 2m wings as it snakes it’s long neck at you. But if this was done by humans it’s 100 per cent illegal.

That’s why it is a huge relief to see our swans casually checking out their revamped island as we do our little cleanup.

Making a cosy nest with straw © K

Worryingly, at the end of the DIY work when photos were shared one of the wise swan watchers WhatsApped to say the nest had been in a different spot last year, overlooking the whole basin. We will just have to see what the swans make of the updated location (which has been nested in in the past), with its much safer entry and exit point which will hopefully stop the just hatched cygnets being carried off by gulls. A more important drawback might be that the keen canalside swan watchers can’t see the nest quite so clearly.

Moving home is never that easy.

Litter picking as we pose: Andrew, Annalia and Gulya with the swan pair and last year’s cygnet (hatched 2024). As Gulya (r) said it’s important to help the wildlife. “None of the Egyptian geese chicks survived (first brood 2025). There were six milling around like wound up toys and then the next day none.” The easiest thing any of us can do is remove litter that’s especially dangerous, eg, long bits of string and wire, fish hooks, glass bottles and plastic film. (c) NB

Swan facts

• The swans on Regent’s Canal are usually Mute Swans (cygnus olor). They do a lot of gruffing and growling so don’t expect them to be mute.

• Cob is the name for an adult male swan. Penn is the name for an adult female swan. Baby swans are called cygnets. The children’s Tale of the Ugly Duckling provides some useful swan info about their switch from cygnets to adulthood.

• Do support the Swan Sanctuary, they have gifts, donation opportunities and advice. if you need to report an emergency, try 01932 240790. Here’s the website

• sup.at.islington runs regular litter picks from paddleboards. Please sign up using https://bookwhen.com/sup

• Swan Island features in my comic novel Not That Deep. the paperback is £10 and ebook £3. Here’s the link.