Wildlife watchers in Looe are keeping their fingers crossed that a new male swan recently arrived in the river, will attach himself to the pen left a widow with two orphan cygnets, when her partner sadly died after being crushed between the fishing boats earlier in the year. Swans mate for life and there have been concerns about the pen's unhappy state.

The threesome who go everywhere together, although mum should by now have detached herself from her young, have been watched closely by the harbour community who report that 'we three' now seem happily to have become 'we four' on a regular basis, the new cob on the scene taking his share of looking after the 'stepchildren'.

The cygnets have become quite tame, and are fed on a regular basis, especially by ferryman Ivan Chaston. However, his recent reward for his kindness was to have his hat snatched by one of them, resulting in much laughter along the quayside.

It has also been noticed there has been an increase around the harbour of the numbers of Greater Black Back Gulls. They usually nest on cliffs but for the last two seasons they have been unsuccessfully trying to breed in the town.

Much more aggressive than their cousins the common Herring Gulls, for whom they are presently making life havoc, they are known in the wild to hunt down smaller birds to kill and eat.

A welcome visitor to port recently has been Kevin the Cormorant who was looked after last winter by workers on the quay, but especially by box washer Lewis Bettinson.

Kevin was spotted perched on a boat in the river. A quick call of his name which he obviously remembered and a few whistles and he flew to the quayside for a tasty treat.