Near Miss !

Tragedy narrowly averted this morning when two young swans tried to fly over the road bridge.

One of them crash landed on the road and was hit by a vehicle, A member of the public phoned the SSPCA and another local herded the young cob along bridge st, as I arrived on the scene. I ushered the cob onto the green and then down into the river. I checked for injuries and it appeared OK with a dirty line mark across one wing - presumably where it was in contact with the vehicle. Some time later I checked on the young cob again, gave it some food which it eagerly scoffed. These young swans were chased by our resident pair anxious to protect their territory, the enclosed sequence of pics tells the story.

I have emailed our local councillors asking for the main road bridge rails to be re-painted as soon as possible, since their rusty appearance blends in too easily with the broken background of trees and buildings. This is the second near tragedy in recent months where swans have clipped the bridge rails ! It's good that members of the public take the time to look out for the Swans...more than can be said for the motorists who did not want to stop !

A bypass cant come soon enough for the Swans !

UPDATE : Councillor Liz Macdonald informs me that she will contact BEAR, the roads contractors - to get the bridge rails painted, apparently they have been asked repeatedly over the last 4 years to get this done !

Councillor Graham marsden's reply :We have requested of BEAR that they paint the rails on the A96 on several ocassions, they're not within our jurisdiction, so we can't do anything other than ask.I'm sure Louise can provide you with the contact details of BEAR to make your request to them.