Seven swans a-swimming: A family of seven swans is becoming well known in Pembroke Dock.

While it has freshwater input, the Milford Haven Waterway, including the stretch between Pembroke Dock and Neyland, is predominantly saltwater; a tidal estuary. But this doesn’t phase the local swans, despite their preference for freshwater.

Mark Nicolaides, of Swan Life, says: “Many species of ducks and swans have a gland which is located near the eyes and below the skin, which extracts the salt from the bloodstream. This salt is then concentrated into a liquid and is removed from the body by passing out through the nares, the holes in the bill.”

Swans typically mate for life. The pair at Pembroke Dock were initially seen with six young, but it would appear that one was lost to a predator or separated from the bevy in early life - leaving the parents and five cygnets to scan the bay for food.

The cygnets are only weeks old, but they are gaining size rapidly. Cygnets fledge around 11 to 12 weeks, by which time they weigh roughly 80 per cent of an adult swan. By 18 weeks, they will near adult length.

The cygnets will moult over the course of four to six weeks each summer, during which they will not be able fly and all their feathers will be lost. At four or five months, they will have their first full plumage, but they will lose their juvenile grey-brown colouring gradually over the next three years.

Food is regularly being left for them at the water’s edge off Front Street, so the swans have developed a habit of nearing anyone who stops nearby, in the hope of finding food.

Remember though that swans are powerful birds and protective of their young, but they are also vulnerable to dog attacks. Wildlife organisations emphasise the importance of keeping dogs on leads where swans are present. Keep children away from them, stay well back and do not approach a cygnet.