Winter’s swan step nearer...

BRITAIN has welcomed its first Siberian swan of the year – an arrival which traditionally heralds the start of winter.

The Bewick’s swan landed 11 days earlier than the first one of 2017.

The birds migrate 2,500 miles from Arctic Russia to flee the bitter cold.

Steve Heaven, from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve at Slimbridge in Glos, where the swan landed, said: “We’ve seen some birds return to us each winter for 29 years.”