Chafford Swans and Wildlife

10/01/2024

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09/01/2024

It is with very heavy heart that we had to retrieve the body of ‘Spots’ one of our grown cygnets down at the gorge, all I can say is it is now been reported to Essex Police. For obvious reasons the only picture we will share is one, that one of our friends/ followers took of him with his siblings less than two hours before we had the unfortunate task of taking him out of the water whilst his family looked on. A very sad day 😢 fly high little one such a sad loss by human nature at such a very young age 🦢💙 thank you for letting us be part of your life, for all the nods, snorts and grunts of happiness x x lots of love Jackie and Lisa x Chafford Swans and wildlife 🦢🦢

02/01/2024

Four became three today 🦢🦢🦢 Mum and Dad chased one of their cygnets out of the water tonight and when she made it back in she got chased back out. Getting dark this leaves this cygnet vulnerable, therefore she was quickly scoped up and taken to the nearest flock for her own safety. Bye bye little one, stay safe, it’s been a pleasure taking care of of you ❤️🦢

25/12/2023

These four beauties just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas 🦢🦢🦢🦢❤️💙

20/12/2023

After flying off for six days we finally have our swan family back, for now anyway 🦢🦢❤️💙
Found swimming down the gorge pathway

30/11/2023

We are after your help yet again this time of year.
If you are looking and replacing your hot water bottles this Christmas, please consider us before throwing your old ones away.
These can come in handy to look after any ill or injured feathered friends whilst awaiting for help or the transportation for the help
We are happy to collect any unwanted, hot water bottles. Thanks again for your continued support 🦢🦢

31/10/2023

16/10/2023

Loving our swan babies from this year, although they are almost as big as their parents. Soon they will fly off so making the most of time with them and nature of course 🦢💙🐿️

02/10/2023

Did someone say it’s dinner time at the gorge 🦢🦢❤️💙🦆

19/07/2023

***UPDATE***we lasted all of two days but missed them all too much, so we are just going to have to have our hectic life back of full time jobs and looking after our feathered friends 🦢🦢

We got tagged into a post today of a goose with a broken foot however, I’m sorry to say that after six years of caring for our feathered friends we are no longer able to continue helping them please if you see any injuries please contact our nearest wildlife hospital which is south Essex wildlife in orsett who may be able to assist you further take care and thank you for all your support.

10/07/2023

So the swan ladies took there first holiday in six years, which meant leaving our feathered friends for a week. Thankfully for us our good friend Carol Dover took our place and done a fabulous job 🥰🥰
She is now officially auntie to these birds and apparently enjoyed every minute of it. She was chased due to her ikea bags as they thought she was us 😂
Many thanks Carol, we owe you a large drink 😘🦢🦆💙❤️

24/06/2023

Who eat all the seed, there must be more down here somewhere 😂😂

24/06/2023

You blink and suddenly they are bigger and braver 💙❤️🦢

20/06/2023

Our first ever Egyptian babies here at the gorge 
❤️💙

07/06/2023

Gaining the trust of our new feathered friends 🦢🦢❤️💙

07/06/2023

We have a new follower and volunteer 🐈😂

05/06/2023

Did someone say that it’s dinner time 😂💙🦢

05/06/2023

Family 💙❤️🦢🦢

01/06/2023

it comes with a heavy heart tonight that we found another baby Gosling that had been killed  down the gorge. I’m not sure how it’s happened  but from what we found of him, we believe it to be another dog attack 😢  when will people realise it’s so important to keep your dogs on the lead around the birds, especially the babies. We had a confrontation tonight as a young couple, had a large dog off the lead running in the water chasing the birds When I ask them could you please put the dog on the lead as there are lots of baby birds around and he is frightening them. we got called fu***ng le****ns and a friend of ours who was with us at a time got called a four eyed dog (because she wears glasses) by the owner he also said his dog was having fun chasing the birds away so why should he put him on a lead.  he then continued to shout and swear at us telling us there was no signs to back up what we was saying even though there are signs at both entrances of the gorge. Maybe if we were three men down there instead of three women, he may have thought twice about the way he was speaking to us f**king mouthy little t**t 🤬🤬

29/05/2023

To the owner of the black dog that just got hold of a gosling down at the Gorge and killed it. I hope you’re proud of yourself. The responsibility of keeping your dog on a lead lies solely with the owner. This is now the second Gosling today we are now having to bury unnecessarily due to the actions of the owners of dogs if you don’t want to keep your dog on a lead I suggest you take it somewhere other than the nature park whereby it does not interfere with wildlife down here at the Gorge. I shall not show the photos of the dead goslings as they are very distressing. But today us here at Chafford Swans and Wildlife feel very deflated and bloody angry. 😢

22/05/2023

What a busy Sunday we had. Meet shadow and pickle. With thanks to one of our followers for alerting us to an injury to a young Greylag that had a wound to his face, after giving us the run around closely guarded by his mum, little Shadow was in the safe arms of Lisa and currently doing fine receiving treatment. Later that day after feeding we heard cry’s from the long grass, saw a crow fly off and within the grass was Pickle a baby grey lag. Thankfully unhurt but due to the vast amount of family’s this year we were unable to place him to the correct family and wasn’t going to leave him, so we had an overnight guest 💙. What a pleasure he was, the house now seems very quiet and tidy 😂 after he went to his forever home 💙💙

22/05/2023

The wait is over, we received a call from one of our followers and had to run down the gorge. Our Swan has had seven beautiful cygnets 🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢💙❤️

17/05/2023

This baby gosling was found away from her family and appeared a little unsteady on her feet. Due to her vulnerability she was quickly picked up into safety where she is now on route to be looked at and looked after. We have named this beautiful grey lag Hazel. Be happy little one ❤️💕

10/05/2023

So for once the bloody weather people got the prediction of rain spot on. Oh well, always good to see and check on my feathered friends 🌧️☔️🦢🪿❤️💙

08/05/2023

Although we had a word with the persons that left this mouldy bread down at the Gorge. Please be reminded that mouldy bread is not good for the birds and this will be disposed of by us. 
Bread is absolutely fine, white or brown just not mouldy.
On a brighter note if you fancy seeing lots of cuteness we have many babies down at Chafford Hundred gorge. 🦢🦆🪿❤️
Take care all Chafford Swans and Wildlife x

05/05/2023

Another family with seven beautiful goslings join us for a late afternoon feed ❤️💙

05/05/2023

It’s getting busy down here, first sight of baby Moorhens, lovely to see mum feeding them 💕 and the Greylags are getting big. No sign yet of our resident mummy swan getting off the nest. If our calculations are right we should see cygnets real soon 🦢🦢💙❤️

02/05/2023

With thanks to the young couple that alerted us to a baby Canadian gosling found upside down and distressed at the gorge. We suspect taken from the family by another bird of nature, always vulnerable at this age. Quickly picked up and kept warm at our residence, this cheeky little one kept us cooing for two hours until our friend Gill Walker from the sanctuary transported her for treatment. A strong young gosling we named Willow 💕
Keep fighting little one you are in safe hands now 😘

23/11/2021

We are feeling super proud of our cygnets today. We didn’t see them initially for feeding time which is really unusual. But within minutes we heard the whooshing of wings from behind….. and there they were at about 6 feet up coming down in true crash landing fashion for eating 🦢🦢🦢 with mum and dad. How wonderful to see them grow 🦢🦢❤️

14/11/2021

If you would like a better understanding into Angel wing in birds then please read the below 🦢🦢