HAND-painted warning signs have been put up along a riverside road after concerns baby swans will be killed by speeding cars.

The unofficial signs were put up along the Walls in Mistley on Tuesday night after a number of cygnets were killed on the road last year.

The water birds, protected by the Crown, are synonymous with the village and have been since the seventeenth century when they were attracted to the area, feeding off the barley which blew off barges sailing into the Stour Estuary.

But every year swans are killed on the road as they try to cross and this year three young cygnets have regularly been seen crossing the road near a bend to follow their mother.

Debbie Burrows, of Oxford Road, Manningtree, said residents are worried the youngsters will be killed if drivers don't slow down.

She said: "One baby died last year and the ones this year are so small and not easy to see coming out between parked cars.

"Also the place they are coming out from is on the bend, if people did 20/30 mph on that bit they would have time to stop - however lots of swans are killed by cars there every year.

"It’s ridiculous the speed some people go along there.

"Last night when I was putting up one of the signs a driver must have been going 50 along there, it took my breath away."

The swans nest on the large pond inside Mistley Place Park and then cross over the road to the river.

Debbie said: "They can't swim underneath the bridge because of the sluice gates.

"Swans have crossed the road for years and been safe as the few locals and cars drove slowly along there but now with the population increase and lots more cars and outsiders who don't realise how careful they need to be.

"Swans were here before our cars."