Richard Collins: Let’s whoop it up for our swan species

An army of counters has just visited all known haunts of migrant swans in Ireland. The surveyors were are participating in the International Swan Census, held every five years.

We have three swan species here. The ‘mute’, the one everybody knows, is an all-year-round resident. It has a curvaceous Celtic-art-style profile and an orange bill topped by a black nose-like ‘berry’. Although it can snort grunt and hiss, this swan is ‘mute’ compared to its migrant cousin, the whooper, which honks loudly.