A new plant pot? No, it's a stranded swan! (From Bournemouth Echo)

Swan crash-lands on Poole balcony

11:00am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News By Diana Henderson

Swanning about in Poole got one of the majestic birds into deep trouble when it crash-landed on a balcony.

The adult swan was uninjured but spent hours trapped on the third-storey balcony, awaiting rescue and release.

Jackie Weaver, who lives in a nearby block of flats in Avenal Way, Poole Quarter, couldn’t believe her eyes when she glanced up on her way home.

“I don’t know what made me look up,” she said, as she returned home at lunchtime. “I saw what I thought was a new planter. Then it moved.”

 

She immediately rang the RSPCA who came to the rescue but had to wait until the occupants of the flat arrived home from work in the evening to gain access.

It could have been there the best part of the day before gaining its freedom, unable to fly away as swans can’t take off from a standing start, needing a long runway to get airborne.

“It must have just dropped out of the sky,” said Jackie. The apartment block at Baiter is between Poole Park, whose lakes are popular with swans, and Poole Harbour.

RSPCA Inspector Graham Hammond said he could only imagine the fully grown adult swan had crash landed on the balcony after flying too low. “I think it just flew into the wrong area,” he said.

“Thankfully it was absolutely fine,” he said. “We checked it over and took it to the sea at Baiter and released it there.

“It was able to fly, it was absolutely fine.”

He added: “I did ask it what it was doing there and it wouldn’t tell me.

“It was a mute swan and they can’t speak.”