Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at 8:27AM Cygnus olor
Mathew states their chief station was on the lake at Stackpole. Breeding also in the salt water bays of the Cleddau river. Common along the coasts and inside Milford Haven in winter.
R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 3:16PM Largely introduced into Pembrokeshire to grace ornamental waters, the mute swan has now become naturalised. Habitat requirement is for a supply of aquatic plants, sufficient room to be able to take off and a suitable bank or reed bed in which to place its bulky nest. Formerly nesting on saltings, this practice had ceased by the time of the 1984-88 survey. During the 2003-07 survey they had reoccupied this niche at Cosheston Pill, the Haroldston region of the Western Cleddau and the tidal upper limit of the Eastern Cleddau. Otherwise all nests were found on fresh waters.
Ten pairs were breeding in the county during the 1984-88 survey, 22 breeding pairs were found during the 2003-07 survey. The increase was accompanied by an expansion in distribution to the east and an increase in the number of pairs in the south of the county, particularly at Pembroke Mill Ponds.
Graham Rees
Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 14
Orange = breeding probable = 5
Yellow = breeding possible = 4
Total tetrads in which registered = 23 (4.7%)
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 9:22AM Breeding resident
Mathew (1894) stated that they were originally introduced and noted Bosherston Pools as "their chief station" and that up to about 100 could be seen there in the summer, with many pairs breeding. Only eight to ten remained in the winter, when a few moved to the Cleddau Estuary but the majority appeared to have left the county. This situation continued into the 1920s and 1930s according to Mr Barnaby, the son of Earl Cawdor's agent, (per R.J. Haycock) but only one or two pairs breed there now and three to five is a typical winter populatio n. Lockley et al. (1949) and Saunders (1976) not ed several breeding sites along the saltings of t he Cleddau, Nevem and Teifi estuaries but these a re no longer used, the ten pairs that breed annually all being at freshwater sites.
There are normally about 30 birds on the Teifi Estuary in winter, and this is presumably the source of the Mute Swans that occasionally visit the Nevem Estuary, and more rarely Fishguard Harbour. Up to 50 winter on the Cleddau Estuary, mainly at Llanstadwell and the Pembroke River, the non-breeders staying throughout the year. Mute Swans have been recorded twice from both Skokholm and Skomer.
They are vulnerable to oil spills and 16 had to be removed for decontamination following the 'El Omar' incident in the Cleddau Estuary during December 1988. Four died but the rest were rehabilitated the following spring.
Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 8
Orange = breeding probable = 1
Yellow = breeding possible = 2
Total tetrads in which registered = 11 (2.3%)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 10:43AM 
Red = breeding confirmed
Orange = breeding probable
Yellow = breeding possible
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 6:41PM 
The BTO winter atlas showed that Mute Swans were present in suitable 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.
The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square. The darkest blue represents over 24 birds seen in a day.
The distribution plot highlights the square that includes Pembroke Mill Ponds where the largest concentration in the county occurred.
Graham Rees
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 3:59PM Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"
