Hampstead Heath romance for swans reunited

Published: 18 March 2010
by DAN CARRIER

IT was a spring holiday of the type that is normally associated with stressed out celebrities who have been burning the candle at both ends.

For a swan who lives on Hampstead Heath, a month-long sojourn at a watery retreat has a happy ending.

On Sunday morning the swan named Xini returned to her favourite waters in the Men’s Pond after spending a month recovering from stress at a sanctuary in Victoria Docks in east London.

Reunited with her mate of seven years, onlookers cheered as the couple, clearly thrilled to see each other, immediately started the annual mating ritual that has brought them happy broods in the past. 

The rescue and return came about due to a photographer aptly named Ron Vester who has spent many years chronicling the lives of swans on the Heath.

In February, Heath rangers were told by Mr Vester, who has worked as a snapper in the Caribbean for major national newspapers, that one of the swans he regularly photographs was looking distressed on the banks of the Men’s Pond. 

According to the rangers, it seemed a dog had either attacked it or spooked it – and so they called in swan rescue experts who removed the bird and took it away for recuperation. 

After nearly a month in a special swan sanctuary, Mr Vester wondered if the recovered bird would ever be brought back and put in a series of calls to rangers and the rescue team. 

He heard that there were no plans to reunite the bird with its partner – and that it would be tricky to find the right bird anyway from the multitude of white feathers at the docks.

He said: “They told me there were over 30 swans at the site and how would I spot the one from the Heath?”

But Mr Vester had got to know the pairs of swans while taking photographs of them for an ongoing study he was doing, following them as they bred in the Men’s Pond.

He says his close study meant when he got to Victoria Docks, he knew exactly which bird he was looking for. He said: “I spotted her and called her – her name is Xini. I also had some of her favourite nuts to entice her out of the water, and she came straight out over to me.” 

Fully recovered, she was taken back to her old haunt – and a touching reunion with her mate of nearly a decade.

Mr Vester added: “When we put her back in the Men’s Pond, there was a big crowd gathered, and they clapped and cheered. It was a little silly – but also beautiful.”