Mute Swan

The mute swan is a large waterfowl that can have a wingspan of over two meters when fully grown.

”The mute or tame swan stays in the southernmost parts of Sweden. The wild swan was very common with us in spring and autumn. At the rapids in the Göta River near Ronnum, swans sometimes remain during harsh winters. Had I been properly equipped, I would have made good swan hunting at Ronnum. But since I did not have a suitable gun, I did not think it was worth properly pursuing them.” Llewellyn Lloyd

The mute swan was formerly also called the tame swan, although it has never been a domesticated bird in the true sense. During the Middle Ages, the species was hunted intensively but was protected in 1621 within a radius of six miles around Stockholm, where hunting had previously been particularly extensive.

In our area, the great hunter Llewellyn Lloyd hunted in the 19th century. Lloyd recounts that the mute swan in Skåne could be hunted with a large number of boats - like a drive hunt at sea. Down and skins were taken while ”the meat was left to the poor.” At Rånnum, Lloyd occasionally kept whooper swans in a cage.