Swan saved from tree in dramatic rescue

Several calls were made today to report that a "distressed" swan was in a tree at Pennington Flash Country Park in Leigh.

So fire crews and officers from the RSPCA attended at around 1pm to help the animal.

Alex Sugden, watch manager at Leigh fire station, said: "Somehow it had flown into a tree and got stuck about seven metres above ground level."

A fire crew and the technical response unit from Leigh fire station went to help, along with a specialist water incident unit from Eccles and the RSPCA.

But getting to the swan was not easy, as the tree was in the middle of marsh lands.

"Access was difficult," said Mr Sugden. "We had to wade across marshy water ways and cut through the undergrowth to get to it."

Once they reached the tree, the firefighters cut parts of it down and carefully lowered the swan to the ground to safety.

It was seen by an RSPCA officer and taken to a vet for a check-up.

Mr Sugden said: "It seemed distressed and injured but the RSPCA officer said they can't see why it won't recover."