A feathered father-of-five has shown who is top of the pecking order by seeing off an invasion of Canadian geese.

Relationships got so bad between a pair of Canadian geese and their offspring and a pair of English swans and their cygnets that wildlife rescuers were forced to erect a net across their pond to separate them.

It was hoped it would stop them attacking each other as they nested on an island at Peelings Lane Pond, Westham, near Eastbourne.

But after a week of trying to keep the warring groups apart, wildlife rescuers have had to blow the whistle on attempts to keep the peace and remove the geese.

They were collected from the pond on Monday and were being released in the Cuckmere Valley.

Trevor Weeks, rescue co-ordinator for the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS), said: "We have had to go back to the pond virtually every day since putting the fence in because the swan would be on the wrong side.

"We even put up a bit more netting but once the swans had their cygnets the male became very, very territorial. While we were moving the barrier he flew at us.

"We've decided we have done everything we could to keep them there and they had to be moved.

"The dad swan is now showing off as if to say 'I've won'