A GALASHIELS pensioner has described finding the gruesome remains of a headless swan close to a children's playpark.

And Jim Messer believes the killing of the fledgling was a wildlife crime.

The retired soldier and engineer was walking his dog around Tweedbank's Gunknowe Loch last Thursday afternoon when he made the grim discovery.

Mr Messer told the Border Telegraph: "It was if someone had tried to hide the bird in the bushes.

"I saw the swan when I got out of the car and thought it was strange that it was in the bushes. It was only when I got closer that I noticed flies buzzing around and saw that its head and neck had been cut off.

"It was too clean a cut to have been done by an animal."

Gunknowe Loch, which was created during the formation of Tweedbank more than 40 years ago, has been home to 11 adult swans this summer as well as six cygnets.

And hundreds of dog-walkers and families flock to the popular pond each week to feed the birds.

It is believed that the decapitated dead swan was one of the cygnets which had been reared on the loch this season.

Mr Messer added: "There are always children around the loch and they could easily have come across this - the bird was just along from the park.

"I believe this was a wildlife crime."

At its peak Gunknowe Loch was home to around 60 swans.

And the only previous report of any attacks was more than 20 years ago when a dog savaged a an adult bird.

Local ornithologist Andrew Bramhall, who noticed one of the cygnets missing last Thursday morning, told us: "The usual cause of death for swans is hitting overhead wires but there aren't any near Gunknowe Loch.

"The six cygnets were starting to fly but this doesn't explain how this one's head and neck have been removed.

"This is most unusual and I hope it wasn't a deliberate act."

The dead swan was removed after the discovery was reported to Police Scotland.

Local RSPB officers admit they are baffled by the death. A spokesman said: "It has been known in the past for a fox to remove the head of a dead swan but it would probably be obvious if it was the work of a fox.

"Thankfully we don't have too many reports of incidents like this."