Paul Stephenson had visited the Loughshore Park last Sunday, after enjoying a pleasant walk around Antrim, but was soon shocked by the antics of several people, particularly towards the swans.

“I stopped off at the Loughshore to relax with an ice-cream from the excellent new cafe,” Paul told the Times.

He added: “Making my way down to the shore's edge I was greeted with a dismal sight - there were a couple of carloads of people drinking and spilling out of the cars to lie on the shore.

“There they extended the entertainment to throwing stones at a swan which looked mesmerised by the jet-skis encircling it.”

The situation proceeded to get worse, and having at first thought that the swan had drifted into the path of the jet-skis, Paul soon realised that the pilots of those vehicles were harrassing the bird.

“Thankfully the swan realised it was in danger and eventually flew off out of harm’s way, or so it thought,” Paul said.

He added: “Next, one of the jet-skiers chased the bird to its new spot and harassed it again.”

Commenting that the incident had spoiled his visit to the borough, Paul said it would make him think twice about visiting again.

“Is this what passes for entertainment in Antrim? I don’t know; I don’t visit that often and it will be even less often in future,” Paul said.

He added: “It was a thoroughly depressing end to a lovely sunny afternoon.

It’s not the first time that jet-skiers have caused controversy at Antrim’s Loughshore.

Last year, they faced criticism for chasing nesting terns away from the torpedo launch.

And just last week, during a presentation at Antrim Council, Caroline Marshall, of the Lough Neagh and Lower Bann Partnership, spoke of the need for policing of the Lough.

“There are no bye-laws [for Lough Neagh]; no authority to police it,” she explained.

She added: “Jet-skis are a problem.”

Speaking to the Times after the meeting, former mayor of Antrim, Alderman Sam Dunlop, said some sort of monitoring system was need to protect the wildlife present on the Lough.

“Jet-skiers were criticised last year for racing round the torpedo launch and scaring away the nesting birds and now they’re scaring the swans,” Ald. Dunlop said.

He added: “This behaviour is unacceptable; they need to act more responsibly.

“Sadly that’s not going to happen any time soon as there’s no authority over the Lough, which means there’s no one to stand up to them, and until there is they’ll continue to get away with this bad behaviour.”

lorna.mckay@jpress.co.uk