Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are Swans being unreasonable?

158 replies

Glittercloud17 · 14/03/2025 22:23

dance dancing GIF

Genuine question: Are Swans Being Unreasonable?

Has anyone ever actually had their arm broken by a swan? It’s something we have all said at some point, but has it ever actually happened to you or anyone you know?

🦢

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
ScarlettSunset · 15/03/2025 07:41

I did have a confrontation with a swan once on a canal path. I wanted to get past it so I could get home. The swan didn't want me to.
I was scared as I too had heard they could break bones.
It was a tense situation with the swan pulling itself up to full height and me trying to edge calmly around it. In the end, the swan didn't actually DO anything except stand there trying to intimidate me, and I did get around it and went safely on my way.
It happened over 30 years ago though and I still remember it clearly so although in the end nothing at all happened, it clearly had a lasting impact on me!

Daisymae23 · 15/03/2025 07:42

Surely everyone’s cousins best friends next door neighbour has had their arm broken by a swan?

LetMeGoogleThat · 15/03/2025 07:48

Not a broken arm, but I've got a leg scar caused by a Swan. I was forced to interveen when a swan was going for my son, so put my leg between them and he took a bite!!

Apparently they only get aggressive when they have babies, so to be fair we both did the same thing protecting our offspring

BitOutOfPractice · 15/03/2025 07:53

unsync · 14/03/2025 23:39

We're always very wary when we're swimming if there's a swan with cygnets. We give them a wide berth and try to appear non threatening. I've seen them chase kayaks. When you're on their level in the water, they are quite impressive and rather fearsome.

I’d love to see the difference between your threatening and non threatening swimming. And you Say you try to appear non threatening. Does that mean you are threatening? I think the swans are right to be wary of you! 😉

turkeyboots · 15/03/2025 07:54

My mum has stitches after a swan bit my sister, and then Mum when rescuing her!
But geese are worse. They'll push you off a cliff (or so I was told)

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 15/03/2025 07:56

XenoBitch · 14/03/2025 22:27

Haha, I grew up being told that a swan could break your arm with their wings.
It is in the same category of things that you were told were dangerous, but they have never been a threat in real adult life... like quick sand.

Two children near where I lived in France were killed by quicksand in the riverbank. There are signs on all the paths telling people not to go onto the bank because of quicksand but people ignore them.

And if you can’t tell the difference between a goose and a swan (that’s a proverb) it might be better to give them both a wide berth.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 15/03/2025 08:00

A swan ate some bread out of my sister's hands when she was a toddler strapped in to her pushchair and bit her, then knocked the pushchair over with its wings when dm tried to shoo it away. So they are quite strong.

NameChanges123 · 15/03/2025 08:12

BitOutOfPractice · 14/03/2025 22:35

with swans fast approaching us across the park one day, me and a burly looking random bloke got a bit of a peg on to avoid them. I asked him if he was worried about them breaking his arm. He wasn’t but, he said, “they’ll peck your arse!”

I felt there was bitter bitter experience behind that warning.

😂😂

Amethystanddiamonds · 15/03/2025 08:13

I was attacked by a swan with young when feeding the ducks as a toddler. It knocked me over and it was clearly very scary as it's one of my earliest memories. My mum was injured getting me away but no broken limbs. I didn't break my arm until a few years later. Although that was in the park after feeding the swans. So I could indirectly blame them......

GarabostGal · 15/03/2025 08:14

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

unsync · 15/03/2025 08:38

BitOutOfPractice · 15/03/2025 07:53

I’d love to see the difference between your threatening and non threatening swimming. And you Say you try to appear non threatening. Does that mean you are threatening? I think the swans are right to be wary of you! 😉

Show quote history

LOL Non threatening is a euphemism for swimming in the other direction or hiding in the reeds!!

Dreamskies · 15/03/2025 08:41

QueenOfHiraeth · 15/03/2025 00:21

Geese are not cute and funny I have been bitten by one, totally unprovoked and very traumatic.
Never had my arm broken by a swan though

Show quote history

😂😂 they have such pathetic bites though!

Chuchoter · 15/03/2025 08:41

www.thedodo.com/videos/man-befriends-swan-and-takes-him-everywhere-he-goes

Rigó and Totó have been best friends ever since the day Totó hatched. And now that Totó's grown, they go on exciting adventures all over town... some of their favorite places might surprise you!

Snugglemonkey · 15/03/2025 08:45

TooBigForMyBoots · 14/03/2025 22:37

Swans are always unreasonable. Fortunately they're easily avoided@Glittercloud17.🦢 Geese are only sometimes unreasonable but if they lose it, you're fucked.🪿😵🪿

Edited

The geese in our local park are always unreasonable. They surround small people trying to feed ducks and tried to pull dc 1 into the water by pulling the toggle on his wee duffle coat. We try to stay well clear.

AlertCat · 15/03/2025 08:49

Swans are unreasonable. I was sitting on a narrowboat once, on the front bit, reading my book, quietly minding my business, and a swan came up and bit me on the arm. Out of nowhere. Then it hissed at me as if I had threatened it.

Also they drown each other, that’s pretty unreasonable. So yeah, they might not break your arm but they are bastards anyway.

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 15/03/2025 08:59

Swans are all talk. A friend of mine once gave a bolshy swan by a busy riverside a massive (verbal) bollocking and it ran off and hid behind a tree. It stayed there all afternoon, occasionally peeking out to glare at my friend when it thought he wasn't looking, but retreating sharpish if it caught his eye. Didn't even try to break his arm. Gutless.

Phase2 · 15/03/2025 09:08

maggiecate · 14/03/2025 23:49

They can give you a good wallop. The much-missed Simon from Wildlife Aid Foundation got thumped by one when he was rescuing its cygnet

Aw I have seen this before he is such a lovely chap, what happened?

BatchCookBabe · 15/03/2025 09:09

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 15/03/2025 08:59

Swans are all talk. A friend of mine once gave a bolshy swan by a busy riverside a massive (verbal) bollocking and it ran off and hid behind a tree. It stayed there all afternoon, occasionally peeking out to glare at my friend when it thought he wasn't looking, but retreating sharpish if it caught his eye. Didn't even try to break his arm. Gutless.

Edited

😂

pinkstripeycat · 15/03/2025 09:10

I’ve seen nature programmes where they’ve said it’s not a thing at all. They physically can’t break your arm with their wings.

Swans are more likely to snap with their beaks.

TheCurious0range · 15/03/2025 09:13

Not a broken arm but I have a triangular scar on the side of my knee from a swan, one chased and attacked me with its break when I was a fairly young child because I'd been feeding the ducks/swans at the park ran out of bread turned to run back to parents to get more but it was angry chased me pecked me and grabbed my leg with it's beak. It was pretty scary.

ConnieHeart · 15/03/2025 09:14

Haveanaiceday · 14/03/2025 23:56

Another well known fact about swans is they all belong to Her late Majesty The Queen.

Obviously not any more. King Charles III now

maggiecate · 15/03/2025 09:21

Phase2 · 15/03/2025 09:08

Aw I have seen this before he is such a lovely chap, what happened?

Show quote history

He passed away from lung cancer last year

Iknowaboutpopular · 15/03/2025 09:22

I have family stories about swans, passed on through generations.

Apparently when my uncle was a wee lad a disgruntled swan took the skin off the back of his legs. He was 3.

When my mum was young an auntie had to fight off a swan with an umbrella so the same thing didn't happen to her.

As a teen, my dad took an impromptu dip in the canal after a swan knocked him off his bike as he cycled along the tow path.

If all that is to be believed, swans are horribly unreasonable buggers.

I did Google whether a swan can break your arm and apparently it's a yes, they can if their wings are at full spread and velocity.

girlwhowearsglasses · 15/03/2025 09:23

Somethingthecatdraggedin7 · 15/03/2025 07:15

I always remember this from Adrian Mole. Anyone else?

That must be it! It’s been an in joke in our family since the eighties.

Hoppinggreen · 15/03/2025 09:27

MargaretThursday · 14/03/2025 22:33

That's a goose not a swan, surely?

When I was at uni One of the lads had his arm broken by a swan when he was rowing. The boat for between the swan and its cygnets. He was pretty shocked by it.

Did it have a baseball bat?
They look big but its mostly all feathers and couldn't break anything.
Thye can give you a nasty nibble but they are mostly noise