Nottingham: Swan rescued after being found covered in oil

A swan was rescued after being spotted in distress in Nottingham.

The bird was noticed by the public in Canal Street on Monday morning and rescued after a video was sent to Lindsay Newell, founder of Linjoy Wildlife Sanctuary in Etwall, Derbyshire.

She said the footage "clearly showed her feathers were contaminated" with vegetable oil.

The bird will need several detergent baths before she can be released.

Members of the public alerted the sanctuary after observing that the swan had not moved all day and was "excessively grooming", Ms Newell said.

Volunteer Simon Withers, who lives locally and sometimes volunteers to help the sanctuary, said the swan was "covered in vegetable oil" and had "groomed it into her feathers".

He said: "Once I caught the swan, I carried it by the Nottingham Railway Station.

"At that point, three members of the Transport Police saw me, asked me what I was doing, and then the swan and I were escorted to the police station."

Mr Withers waited at the station until the swan was picked up by another sanctuary volunteer.

Ms Newell explained that vegetable oil and other fats can end up in water courses when they are poured down marina drains, sometimes by canal boaters.

"Even if you tip deep-fat fryer fat down drains, it goes straight into the river or water course nearby and creates this floating island of fat," she said.

"Once a bird has gone through that, that's it.

"It gets into their feathers, then when they realise they've got stuff on them, they try and groom it off. That makes it even worse."

In a social media post, the sanctuary said: "When oil contaminates the feathers, it strips them of their water-repelling properties, and the bird becomes waterlogged.

"This can result in the swan drowning if they become too heavy. They can also suffer from hypothermia as they have no way of regulating their temperature with the feathers being wet."

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.