Swan rescued from frozen lake in Birkenhead

Dec 1 2010 by Gary Stewart, Birkenhead News

FIREFIGHTERS rescued a swan stuck on a frozen lake and being pelted with stones by children.

The bird got stuck on the lake at Gautby Road at around 4pm on Monday.

Police were called when children started riding their bikes on the ice and throwing things at it.

RSPCA Inspector Nadien Pengilly said: “The poor thing was terrified.

“It was trying to fly off but it kept slipping over.

“It took about an hour and a half for the fire fighters to go out on their little boats and nudge it to the edge.

“I thought it might fly off but it just flopped over exhausted.

“I wasn’t going to leave without it and the children where posing a danger to themselves while it was there.”

The young female swan is now being cared for at the RSPCA ‘hospital’ in Nantwich.

Nadine said she is kept very busy during the winter months helping horses whose water buckets have frozen and over and rescuing dogs left outside in sub zero temperatures.

Meanwhile, icy conditions in West Wirral made it unsafe for bins to be collected this week.