THE body of a swan found in the River Tyne has been sent to police for a post-mortem.

East Lothian Council’s countryside rangers were called out to retrieve the body of the bird on Wednesday.

However, despite rumours of a fight between two male mute swans on the river, the council said there were no obvious signs of injury on the wild bird.

The Tyne is currently home to two families of swans, both of which have young cygnets.

Reports of a clash between the males were circulating on social media after the body was discovered.

A third male swan has also been spotted on the river in recent weeks.

Eyewitnesses said that when the body was discovered, a female swan was seen with it.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: “Countryside Rangers did retrieve the body of a swan at the River Tyne, Haddington.

“There were no obvious signs of injury and so the body has been passed to the police, who will arrange a wildlife post mortem to try to assess the cause of death. ”

The Scottish SPCA said it had not been called in to investigate the incident ahead of the results of the post mortem.