Two rogue swans rapidly regretted the decision to land on the Hampstead Heath ponds when the resident swan family chased them off the water and left them “a bit battered” on a grass verge.

Ron Vester of the Heath and Hampstead Society was on the scene. He said: “Our very territorial family of swans were spurred into action.

“The cygnets and their parents went for the intruders.”

The two foreign swans were forced off the water.

Gill Walker, who runs the Shepperton Swan Sanctuary was called to help rescue the errant wildfowl. She told the Ham&High: “The rangers picked up one of the swans – they are excellent – and they called me in about the second one. It had been forced up onto the bank and was dangerous and distressed.”

“The two swans were a bit battered but didn’t have to be admitted to a vet’s.

“It’s the time of year we start to see this sort of thing, swans have a very strict hierarchy.”