A man who rescued a family of swans from a housing estate in Petersfield insists there’s nothing fowl about their prolonged absence from a nearby pond.

Staff at Petersfield Town Council claim they’ve been kept in the dark about the status of two adult swans and five cygnets found wandering around Herne Farm in July.

The family were rescued from a garden on Marden Way by Danni Rogers and taken to a specialist swan sanctuary in Surrey in the understanding they would be returned to Heath Pond within a month. But they were found to be slightly underweight following a veterinary assessment and were kept for a longer period of rehabilitation.

But council staff and Head Fishing Bailiff, Richard Welch, have received little feedback regarding their conditions and return of the swans since, with claims of repeated calls and emails not being answered.

The ongoing absence of the swans was recently discussed at a town council meeting with officers calling the lack of communication and engagement from the sanctuary to be “a matter of concern”.

“They haven’t been forthcoming with information,” said Jayde Taylor, PTC Climate Projects Officer, when the matter was discussed by the SREC committee.

But Mr Rogers has confirmed the swans will be returned to the Pond soon and would have been taken back sooner if it wasn’t for low water levels and the long, dry summer.

“They’re doing very well,” said the swan and waterfowl rescuer who runs a “swanbulance”.

“They’re being well looked after and we’re looking at releasing them soon.

“I’ve been down to the lake recently but the water level is still really low and my kayak was scraping the bottom.

“It was still totally the wrong time for me to return them.”

“We’ve always told them they’re coming back,” added Mr Rogers in response to claims that PTC had been kept in the dark about the swans’ return to Heath Pond. He also believes the PTC ban on feeding the ducks may have been a contributory factor.

“Those swans walked over a mile before we rescued them, probably because there’s so little water in the pond.

“They were looking for food and water and it would have been unethical to return them earlier.”

The waters may have been muddied further with the recent arrival of five new swans at the heath and pond, as its population and “territorial behaviour” will need considering before the original family returns.

Meanwhile, the council has also made an important plea for visitors to be more responsible as a goose was recently mauled to death at the heath by a dog not on a lead.

The death of a domestic hybrid Greylag comes a fortnight after a similar incident, with PTC urging dog owners to take “no exceptions” when it comes to protecting wildlife.

A spokesperson said: “We cannot keep witnessing preventable deaths of wildlife because dogs are not being kept on leads.

“The Heath is a shared space, and the birds and other wildlife that live here deserve to be protected.”