A swan walking into a canal-side café has prompted a complaint. It's hardly surprising with a canal-side café as the swans are very much part of what makes the canal in Newbury such a lovely part of the town, but a complaint about the swan was taken to a meeting of the town council where it was picked up by a local councillor and relayed to a meeting of the district council where that council's public protection manager said he'd take the complaint to the Water Safety Partnership, a strategic taskforce of district council, police, and fire brigade.

It reads like an episode of Trumpton like when the fire brigade were called when the mayor's hat blew into a tree, and it would be funny enough as a children's farce except it's now within the realms of possibility than some public functionary will suggest culling the swans.

So West Berkshire Council, please be sensible. The report of a swan walking into a canal-side café is hardly something to phone the police and fire brigade about and the café should politely be told to get on with it. There are more cafés in Newbury than there are swans and if it comes to a choice we're with the swans, so respectfully - hands off Newbury's swans.