'It could be Donald Duck saying it and they would believe it if they like him'

AS I stand on the banks of King’s Mill reservoir, I count seven swans bobbing peacefully on the water.

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY Local democracy reporter

They don’t seem fearful of being snatched by a hungry migrant.

But according to what Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has heard and repeated on national radio recently, swans are allegedly a culinary delicacy of some arrivals to the UK.

Over the years, there have been sporadic reports of swans being killed which have made the headlines.

The reports date back at least 20 years in Nottinghamshire.

In 2003, the BBC reported that Nottinghamshire Police and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) were investigating a claim by a fisherman, who said he saw several men “tearing apart a swan and eating it” on the banks of the River Trent near Newark, and another man in the water trying to catch others.

That story contains a quote from the Metropolitan Police saying they had investigated similar incidents in London where “several hundred” swans had been reporting missing.

Then in 2015, the BBC reported that four swans had been found mutilated at King’s Mill Reservoir in Mansfield, “prompting fears” that they were killed for food.

And that’s why I’m standing here.

I'm interested to see if anyone around here remembers that incident, believes what Mr Farage is saying, or has even seen any suspicious swan activity themselves.