Eastbourne road closed after crash landing by swan

The swan is released at Shinewater Lake after treatment

Motorists contacted East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) who rushed to the scene where Sussex Police had already closed one lane and were standing guard looking after the swan.

While the police stopped the traffic, senior rescuers Trevor Weeks and Chris Riddington surrounded the swan and Trevor managed to tackle the swan as it tried to run and take off.

“The swan was checked over and found to have two leeches attacked to its eye,” said Trevor. “This could well be the cause of the swan crash landing near the road and wanting to walk across to the lake.”

Chris said, “We purchased some salt and a bottle of water and were able to flush the eye with the salt water solution to help remove the leeches before returning the swan to Shinewater Lake where the it was clearly happy to be swimming off and away.”

See the video of the release at https://youtu.be/fMmJa3fKMew