Happy ending for swans following springtime saga

Síofra Grant

A Mullingar female returned home after a stint at the hospital to find her partner with a new lady friend and kids on the way; however, following her reappearance, she took him back, shacked up with him again and began a vicious rivalry with ‘her replacement’.

This may sound like a particularly juicy episode of Love Island or a Real Housewives storyline but it is in fact the story of the three swans living on the pond in Mullingar Town Park.

If you’ve walked by, you might not have guessed, but over the last few months things have been utterly Shakespearean. All the drama has been watched closely by the park's caretaker, who recounted the events for the Examiner.

The pond has hosted one male and female swan for the last two years. The pair had never been apart until last January, when the female was injured: “She was taken to a wildlife sanctuary in Kildare,” explained the caretaker. “After that he was on his own so we ended up getting another female in.”

The male and his new house guest quickly got cosy as his original partner recovered: “They got together and last year they had seven or eight eggs, two of which made it to adulthood.”

It was surprising to hear how few chicks reach adulthood, particularly in a pond as protected as the one in Mullingar. The caretaker's story shed light on the conundrum; the return of the original partner.

It was peaceful at first between the two ladies and their paramour and so, life went on with ease: “Swan number two was on the nest hatching the eggs and the male was getting back together with the original female.”

The second swan seemed unbothered by the original pair rekindling, but the mood changed in the spring.

“The two females started laying eggs,” recalled the caretaker, “but they both wanted to be sitting on the nest. They used to fight with one another, and when one would get up the other would sit on the nest.”

“In the middle of March, there were 13 eggs.”

The 13 belonged to both females. It all came to a head when the second female took it too far. “Eventually the second female threw all the eggs out of the nest and the two started fighting.”

Since then the second female has been shunned and the original pair have returned to their usual routine. Following the saga, the two laid seven more eggs, which have since hatched.

While there is tension among the three, the caretaker does not believe there is a threat to the seven cygnets that can be seen cuddled up with their mother on the nest.

He did clarify that there still may be a risk as, “ it didn’t happen last year but they are very vicious to each other”.

But for now, as the mother and her chicks happily swim around near the bank of the pond and greet visitors who come by to take pictures of the scene. The drama seems to have abated.

Tension can still be felt, especially when you look past the nest and see the father and second female circle each other.

The second female cleans her feathers as the father watches intently, clearly on edge following the outburst earlier in the year.

It will be interesting to see how things turn out.