Good news story for Friday: Cygnets rescued by Wiltshire Firefighters

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service has come to the rescue of four cygnets that had got trapped in thick mud in Wilton.

Rural safety officer Adam Martin was called to Saddlers Mead at 9.45am on Tuesday (25 May) after local residents grew concerned that the baby birds were at risk of dying.

The only way to safely reach the cygnets - which are just a few days old - was to cross the river, so a water rescue team was mobilised from Trowbridge, together with a water rescue trained officer from Salisbury. The RSPCA was also called, to help look after the parent swans.

As well as bringing the cygnets to safety, firefighters dug out part of the bank near to the nest site to make it safer for the swans to come in and out of the water.

Station Manager Richard Humphrey, who was officer in charge, said: "This was a brilliant team effort - the RSPCA inspector, Will Hendry, was water rescue trained so we were all able to work together to get these cygnets to land. Local residents then provided us with the materials we needed to make the bank safer. Once we got the babies washed off, dried and warmed up, we were able to reintroduce them to the water and reunite them with their parents - hopefully they will now thrive."

I know this isn't ultra local, but still a Wiltshire story and it's lovely!