Swan rescuers want a no fishing zone on the River Severn at Bewdley because they say that so many birds are dying as a result of lead left behind by anglers.
Jan Harrigan, who runs the Swan Rescue centre at Wychbold, near Droitwich, told Bewdley Town Council the situation was worse than anywhere else in Worcestershire.
She said: “Bewdley has a big problem and things are getting worse. Last year 65 swans were found to be badly leaded and one died.
“This year we have already had up to 35 birds needing treatment in the first three months.
“When we take them to the centre we blood test them and send them to the veterinary inspection centre.
“The cost of this and treating the bird is £150 but it is disappointing if you lose them in the end.”
She called for councillors to halt fishing on both sides of the river in the town centre where tourists traditionally walk to the waterside to feed them.
She said that a no fishing zone had been successfully introduced in Worcester.
Members said they were “supportive” but called for more information and agreed that a panel of councillors should meet with Mrs Harrigan to hold talks with the Environment Agency.
25 Comments
Anglers have used lead free weights now for many many years, it seems to me that more lead is introduced into the environment by pleasure boats than is ever lost by anglers.Add to this the damage and disruption to nests caused by the wash from these craft and the miniscule ammount of lead from anglers falls into its true perspective.
Only lead over 1oz.in weight is allowed to be used for fishing and is unlikely to be ingested by swans.
If not for the thousands of anglers in the country,many of whom are passionate wild life conservitors, then many of our waterways would fall into disuse and disrepair.
steve h ,totally agree mate ,its always blame the angler…like you say we anglers have been using lead free weights for years now..time they looked at other reasons instead of picking on anglers all the time…..
I agree with no1;If they want boats or ships they can join the Marines and do something worthwhile for a change.
Use of lead shot by anglers in sizes dangerous to swans has been banned for over 20 years and was largely phased out voluntarily even before then. Of course there may be a lot of old lead shot left in the environment, but a ban on fishing won’t deal with that. Perhaps someone ought to look into whether something is exposing old sediments; boat wash, perhaps.
I can’t help thinking that this is an opportunistic attack on angling from a conservation sector which has for many years held an antipathy towards anglers.
According to Jan Harrigan’s quote above, “Last year 65 swans were found to be badly leaded and one died.” One died? One solitary swan in the whole year? And none have died this year, we’re told. So where are these “so many birds [which] are dying” that are mentioned in the first paragraph of the story?
What does “badly leaded” mean exactly anyway? I don’t know what they’re full of but it seems unlikely to be lead shot when it’s been banned for angling for nearly a quarter of a century now. And if there was only one casualty in the whole of 2007, just why and how have 35 birds been hauled off the river for testing? Possibly because according to their website, the Wychbold Swan Rescue Centre encourages people to call them out if they see a swan which ‘just doesn’t look right’?
As has already been pointed out, lead shot has been banned for over 20 years, you simply cannot buy it in shops anymore but you can buy non-toxic split shot instead (I assume all the ‘lead’ shot found in these swans have a split in them for the line to go through? If they don’t, then they are not from anglers).
It is also well known that Jan Harrigan is an actively anti-angling and has run several campaigns in an attempt to get this peaceful pastime banned. We love to watch nature go by when we are fishing, and are in many instances the first to realise when something is wrong with the water (pollution spills & etc).
I hope Jan succeeds, it may be a peaceful pastime for fishermen but not for the swans. I do appreciate that many fishermen are concientious and respect wildlife, but there are a few out there that dont, it is a shame the ones that care have to suffer for the rest (even though I dont agree with it myself).
Can I ask, if you knew an angler was using lead shot, would you be willing to report it?
The care and love these swans receive in sanctuaries (having visited one myself in London) is second to none and is not a quick fix, it sometimes takes months for them to recover and some will never fly again through their injuries.
Its not just humans who occupy this planet and the swans have a right to be here as much as anyone else.
Samantha asks if we would report an angler for using lead shot; personally, yes, in a heartbeat. Like all anglers I am legally obliged to pay the Environment Agency £25 per year towards the costs of maintaining the health of the aquatic environment. Part of that role is to enforce the law and prevent pollution. I pay for this to be policed and I want my money’s worth!
“it may be a peaceful pastime for fishermen but not for the swans”
Samantha did you read all of the comments made? It is impossible to buy lead shot in this country and has been so for a long time.
Of course as an angler I dont like to be made out the “bad guy” but also as a conservationist I worry that any real problem with the swans will be overlooked if everyone wrongly persists in blaming anglers lead.
Yet again theignorami at the Swan Rescue Centre blame swan deaths on lead shot left by anglers
1. Lead hasn’t been used by coarse anglers in bulk shot sizes for 20 years
2. The bigots at the Rescue Centre should just come out and admit that they are a pack of misguided misery guts who want to spoil other people’s lawful pastimes
3. It’s about time that there was cull of swans as there are far too many of tehm in Worcestershire and the Sevvern at Worcester is an overpopulated disgrace.
As mentioned Anglers no longer use lead and haven’t for many years. We can no longer purchase it, and if we could most wouldn’t use it anyway! Why? Because we are not just Anglers, we are dedicated conservationists too!! And spend alot of time, money, and effort looking after ALL that lives in and around our waterways!!! It`s time to support angling…
Regards, JonJoe
As an angler I won’t reiterate whats already been stated above, I will however state what has so far been missed and that is this, there’s a thousand times more “spent shot” deposited on a river bank by shooters using 12 bore shotguns in a single day
than anglers lose in a lifetime.
I would suggest that the Swan Rescue Centre should look to the local Countryside at the shooting fraternity, are they using “NON TOXIC” shot in their cartridges???
I too am a law abiding angler…But prefer to be viewed as a gaurdian of the waterways as we do Much more good than harm to any wildlife and are there to enrich wildlife not cut it off from being enjoyed by all
May I suggest people go to the Swan Rescue Centre and see what a pitiful sight it is to see these birds trying to hold their heads up and also trying to walk. When I went there were about 20 birds in one pen with varying degrees of poisoning, about the same number in an outdoor pen with a pool. There is a registered Vet who treats the birds and tests done on them prove it is lead poisoning. No-one is trying to ban angling, just a short stretch of the river where the swans are fed by the public. So lets have a trial period of no fishing in this sort of area and see what the results may be.
Is it me or has John not read a single word said above :/
Let me put it plain and simple. Fisherman dont use lead shots, they were banned 20 years ago andcat be bought.
shock isnt it -_-
So how can swans get lead poisoning from weights that dont exist?
Answer they dont
Main reason to lead poisoning is caused by old disused lead mines that get flooded and the water outta the mines flows into the rivers. That is proven so why must anglers get banned?
Anglers probabley contribute more to the enviroment than ur organisation. Look how many anglers by there licences each year and that money goes to improve the enviroment.
Look how many fishing clubs own fishing lake, canals and rivers. If they dint look after them who would?
Jan Harrigan, have you any scientific evidence at all that lead from anglers is responsible for these swan deaths?
The onus is on you as the accuser to prove guilt, not the anglers to prove their innocence.
I suppose we should think ourselves lucky your not a magistrate.
I wonder if angling bodies (and that doesn’t mean the EA) have been consulted over this issue. If they had it would expose the nonsense that this is - anglers no longer use lead shot. The “success” of the sanctuary in worcester has nothing to do with an absence of anglers - swans are not afraid to come up and ask us for a bit of food so the idea we’re scaring them off is ludicrous. If fishing is banned in the town, it puts angling beyond the reach of the numerous people without cars - including many pensioners - who live in Bewdley, for the sake of one dead swan killed by who knows what (but not anglers).
Here we go yet again. Ill informed comments from people who do not have to prove their accusations. Get it right, Anglers are the guardians of the waterways, who else reports pollution, water fowl of all types in trouble not just swans. I have seen swans run down by so called boaters (on holiday?) and reported them, phoned the swan rescue etc. I and most Anglers care about the countryside and all the creatures that live in it. Without Anglers the waterways would be sewers again. GET REAL
There are too many swans, gulls, canada geese and ducks at Bewdley. The reason that there are too many water birds in this small stretch of river is that they are overfed by the continual stream of bird feeders between Lax Lane and Dog Lane. It is as simple as that. One thing that everyone seems to have missed is that between Dog Lane and the bridge in Bewdley there is already a no fishing zone which is clearly marked by sign and almost always obeyed. Lead poisoning in the over population of swans etc is far more likely to come from shotgun pellets or the run-off water from the Dog Lane car park or the numerous streams and brooks that run into the Severn which cross the B4194 “Dowles Road”.
Unfortunately, its the ignorant, woefully misinformed, albeit well intentioned people like Jan, that already have a clear view in thier mind that fishing is to blame and take little or no time to prove it scientifically and dismiss obvious reasons against thier argument such as lead shot above no.8 being banned. Instead her main method of attack is showing how terrible it is that a swan can become ill or die which grabs peoples attention, then suckers them into an easy answer by blaming anglers. Then people like Samantha and John jump on the offensive and fall head first into Jan’s mindless attacks on angling. It had already been said many times in this article that lead is infact banned and not for sale in the UK thus proving that Jan’s claims are simply not worth a second look, and yet people like Samantha dismiss these simple facts and write something that in all honesty amazes me.
There must be a coherent effort from someone to draw a distinction between responsible and irresponsible anglers before people like samantha will even be willing to listen…..
I am in total agreement with the general majority above this post that these allegations against angling have no founded ground. Does J. Harrigan have any scientific evidence that swans have become ill over the ingestion of anglers lead weights? Since these weights in sizes above a number 8 shot and below 1 oz have been banned for many years I would think not!!
As a scientist, and looking at the scientific point of view, it seem the anglers replying here have a much more systematic view of the environment and are not just “arm chair campaigning” about something they do not understand. It sounds as if a small minority of the arm chair campaigners have a gripe about angling not swan deaths!!!
If there is a lot of boat traffic, surronding carparks, flyovers and dissused lead mines of old in the area and up stream areas of the Bewdley stretch mentioned, then these would offer a large point source of diffuse pollution to any down stream area of river especially in flood conditions. These levels may remain in sediment plant tissue etc etc for many years due to environmental processes. This would also be in much higher levels than could feasibly be introduced by anglers even prior to the lead ban.
I could go on for a very long time on this subject in relation to feeding of swans by public, natural feeding habits of swans, waterway management, anglers indeed being the first to save many waterways of this country etc etc….
However, I shall finish with one final paragraph. The swan population in this area appears to be a falsley high population due to feeding by the general pubilic rather than a self supportive comunity of birds in balance with the river?? (not an expert here so please feel free to inform me). To suggest anglers are to blame for the lead poisonong of so many swans, when it is banned in angling, seems stupid when there are so many other points of pollution that could be atrributable. Please be balanced when looking at such silly arm chair campaigning as that by J. Harrigan and look at the level of good that has come from both parties. I can tell you, without doubt that angling as a whole has provided more support and help along our waterways in real work terms over the past decades than any arm chair campaign. These fellows are on the riverbank regularly and are the first to notice any problems occuring, and always the first to get dirty in helping whether that be for fish, birds or any wildlife that is in distress.
Anglers in Stratford leave lines and debris all around on public ground. They have started to defecate on grassy areas used by children playing, and leave their soiled toilet paper around. It is not just the swans and the ducks that suffer. I am sure that not all anglers have the same appalling attitude, but they are giving the rest of you a very bad name. Its time Stratford became a swan sanctuary.
in reply to susan post 22 the line may be down to anglers although in the past antis have been known to deliberately dump it was the soiled toilet paper marked used by an angler i doubt it guess what everybody defecates not just anglers and why anybody would want to defecate for everybody to see is beyond me if the stupid general public and the anti angling jan harrigan stopped feeding the swans they would have to search further afield for their food and naturally spread themselves across a wider area
there are not any boats in bewdley so don’t blame boats or users.
I fish a large lake in sussex with waterfowl of all kinds. I may fish there for ten hours. in that time people arrive and feed the swans, ducks coots etc. they stay 15 minutes average, put in 2 or 3 loaves of bread. this goes on all day every day.I counted 226 people one day feeding about 30 birds bread at that rate.is this good for them? please I need to know.