A PAIR of mute swans sit stubbornly above the lapping water at Welney as they refuse to lose their nest to the floods.

The spring flooding has brought breeding season at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) to a standstill - but these swans are not giving up their nest without a fight.

The determined duo have been gathering vegetation in an effort to continue incubating their eggs and hatch the cygnets inside.

They have also increased the height of their nest from its origins on the banks of the ditch next to the footpath.

Emma Brand, from WWT Welney, said: “The water levels are now dropping, relieving the pressure on this particular pair of mute swans.

“We hope the levels will continue to drop over the weekend to have paths to some of the hides open next week, then we should be back to normal with regards to access for the June half term activities, which include pond-dipping, moths on display and biodiversity blitz sessions.”

Mute swans, which are native to the UK, never venture too far from their breeding territories.

Visitors can see them during the winter swan feeds, when Welney is home to an additional 10,000 swans migrating from northerly breeding grounds.

During the summer the whooper swans from Iceland and the Bewick’s swans from Arctic Russia are absent, leaving the whole wetland site for the mute swans to hatch and raise their cygnets.

With water levels decreasing, WWT hope to open up again to visitors and provide feeding areas for the birds.

For more information on access to the reserve see www.wwt.org.uk/Welney