Happy ending for swan familly who dodged rush-hour traffic on Northamptonshire road

Kind-hearted villagers take cygnets under their wing until rescuers get them back on the water
Emma Townsend from Animals in Need rounds up the cygnetsEmma Townsend from Animals in Need rounds up the cygnets
Emma Townsend from Animals in Need rounds up the cygnets

A family of swans are back where they belong after causing rush-hour chaos on a Northamptonshire road.

The swans eventually found their way into a local garden — where they were looked after until rescuers arrived and took them to nearby Ravensthorpe reservoir.

The swan family turned up in a garden in East Haddon after forcing police to close the A428The swan family turned up in a garden in East Haddon after forcing police to close the A428
The swan family turned up in a garden in East Haddon after forcing police to close the A428

Kind-hearted homeowner Roger Lones said: "My wife and I arrived home a week last Thursday to find neighbours telling us a family of swans were in our back garden.

"They were making themselves comfortable but we were worried that the cygnets would be easy prey for local foxes so we penned the swans in our back garden to try to keep them safe overnight and our near neighbours said they would be camping out overnight to keep a watch.

"All the cygnets hid under their mother's wings and the cob kept watch. Happily, they all survived and two lovely ladies from Animals in Need near Wellingborough came out the next morning. We took them to Ravensthorpe reservoir where they were released."

Kind-hearted Emma Townsend and Bernie Green, from Irchester-based charity Animals in Need, came out to help the swans find a new home ... although, as these photos show, they took a bit of catching!

The family paddles off at their new home Ravensthorpe RservoirThe family paddles off at their new home Ravensthorpe Rservoir
The family paddles off at their new home Ravensthorpe Rservoir

But the family were finally shooed into baskets before being freed to swim off into the sunset.

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Rescuer Bernie Green grapples with one of the grown up swansRescuer Bernie Green grapples with one of the grown up swans
Rescuer Bernie Green grapples with one of the grown up swans

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