Friday 30 December 2011

Cygnet Rescue




One of our cygnets had a narrow escape after clipping a bridge and crash landing this morning. I was alerted by Council workers who came to my door to tell me a cygnet was on the road on the Town brae. I asked them to either bring the cygnet to me or keep the traffic from hitting it until I got down there. Thanks to the Council workmen they brought the Cygnet to me and I put it in the garden to check it out. It had blood on it's foot from a small skin cut and a grazed leg joint, other than that it seemed OK. I checked each wing and they were OK, and was walking around the garden trying to find a way out. The injuries appeared superficial and It was anxious to get back to the family, so I called my friend with a car and took it back down to the river. After release the family joined it in the harbour, with the parents harassing it - this caused the accident in the first place when they chased it up river over the bridge ! However when I left them a short while ago, all had calmed down and they were leaving it in peace. This is a dangerous time for cygnets when it's time for them to leave home, the parents chase them until they take flight, but they are still inexperienced flyers and sometimes hit wires or bridges ! My thanks to the Council workmen who did the right thing by our swans, well done !







































2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bet that gave you a scare when you were told.Glad it was ok.Nice to see you in the paper by the way !

jayteescot1 said...

It always gives me a scare when swans are out of the water and on a road ! Flying up river is dangerous even for adult swans, the height of the roadbridge and surrounding trees are such that a good headwind is needed for sufficient lift to clear them. Swans are big birds and need at lot of time and space to gain height.
I knew the Nairnshire was doing a feature on the happy film - but did not expect to be on the front page !!