Hi, I was recently on the canals of France in a boat. We watched a swan bring her newborns onto the river. She stayed close to the island where they were hatched and then ventured forth when they are about 3 days old. We watched them get swept over a 6-7 foot wire where they could not get back up. It was also the territory of two others swans and they started to attack the cygnets. The babies were so confused as they did not seem to know which swan was their mother. The babies swam away from their attackers and ended up scattering all over the river. Two were about 1 km. down the river. We managed to gather up the babies and return them to the mother who was now on the downside of the weir with one baby. They were all united when the mother tried to get back to her nest and left the babies behind at he bottom of the weir where they all scattered again and one was eaten by a heron. This happened over and over and we could not get all of the babies on top of the weir. They were very hard to catch. We had to leave and i was wondering what were their chances of survival. There was no father. She was squeezed into a small territory between the other swans and the weir. She had no nest and keep trying to get back to her nest, leaving her babies behind. It was so sad. They were adorable and i wish we could have done more. We called an animal rescue group but they did to come. Thank you