A local hero came to the rescue of a beautiful white swan today after she was cut off from her Meols home by a busy main road – probably having been blown off course by Storm Gertrude.
Gertrude the swan was stranded in Birch Road, Meols, cut off from her mate and the fishing pond they call home by busy Birkenhead Road.
But passers-by came to the rescue, aided by a community policeman, and were able to steer the frightened bird back across the main road.
The problems were just beginning though, as the lake, alongside Meols railway station, is fenced off and protected by a locked gate, leaving the rescuers with no easy route to steer the swan back to the pond.
As our video shows, one brave individual defied the urban legend that a swan can break a man’s arm with a beat of its powerful wings, and managed to take a firm hold of Gertrude and pick her up.
The man was able to control her flapping wings and carry her quickly and calmly along the pavement, through the grounds of a neighbouring house, and out to the pond, where he released her back into the water.
The unassuming rescuer was too modest to give West Kirby Today his name or say anything about his rescue, but there was no hiding the satisfied smile on his face when Gertrude was reunited with her mate in the middle of the pond, her ordeal at an end. He then drove off, without saying another word.
