Bird-brained
Swan smashes through OAP’s window
PENSIONER Jean Wilkinson was about to take a sip of her morning coffee when she heard an almighty explosion coming from her bathroom.
Shaking, she went to investigate, thinking her newly installed shower screen had shattered – but she never suspected fowl play.
For in an extraordinary occurrence, a swan had crashed through her doubleglazed bathroom window and was sitting on the floor bleeding.
The 78-year-old sent a text message to her neighbours, who rushed round and called the RSPCA.
The female swan had emergency surgery and dozens of stitches, but is expected to make a full recovery soon.
Mrs Wilkinson, who lives in a chalet on the banks of the River Trent, said she was used to seeing swans but had never got so close to one before the incident last Monday.
The retired telephone operator, who lives in Barton in Fabis, Nottinghamshire, said: ‘I had been having a wash and came to sit down to have a coffee and all of a sudden I heard the loudest explosion I have ever heard. I was shaking.
‘I have recently had a new shower room put in and I thought maybe the shower screen had exploded.
‘I pushed the bathroom door open and there was a swan on the floor and blood everywhere.’ She added: ‘One of my neighbours looked in through the outside and saw the swan just sitting there very quietly with its head up.’ RSPCA inspector Keith Ellis said: ‘I think the swan was flying to the River Trent and must have misjudged the direction. It was also quite windy at the time which may have blown her off course.
‘I have been an RSPCA inspector for 40 years and have never seen a swan crash through a window.’