Canvey Lake swan family wiped out by blue-green algae
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- Canvey Lake's resident swan family — two adults and nine cygnets — has been wiped out, with all five surviving members dying on Friday at South Essex Wildlife Hospital after being taken there due to the lake's deteriorating condition.
- July 2025 testing found Canvey Lake contained 2.5 million cells of blue-green algae per millilitre, more than 100 times the 20,000-cell warning threshold, leading Canvey Island Town Council to surrender its lease to Castle Point Borough Council.
- Sue Schwar, founder of South Essex Wildlife Hospital, said she was "100% sure" the deaths were caused by blue-green algae exposure, and Castle Point Borough Council confirmed the algae's presence as a naturally occurring phenomenon exacerbated by recent heatwave and drought conditions.
- Residents Hayley Cockayne and Friends of Canvey Lake committee member Martin England described the lake as "dead" and the situation as an "environmental disaster," with Cockayne saying she spent four to five hours daily with the swans for the past three years.
- Castle Point Borough Council allocated £500,000 in June for lake restoration and has £1m of funding backing major restoration plans for the site, which has been a registered Local Nature Reserve since 1998.
Why it matters: Algae levels 100x the safety threshold killed an entire swan family on a protected Local Nature Reserve, forcing Canvey Island Town Council to surrender its lease and concentrating full responsibility on Castle Point Borough Council, which now faces £1m in restoration costs for a problem it acknowledges is hitting standing waters across the region.
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