Sorry for the train delay... there’s a swan on the line
TWO Farnborough Road Junior school pupils helped coax a swan to safety after it had become trapped on a railway line in Southport, forcing a passing train to stop.
The swan appeared on the line between Hillside and Birkdale stations at around 3.15pm on Sunday afternoon.
The Lowery family, who were driving home, stopped at the scene, to try to help the swan.
Brother and sister Jacob, 8, and Georgia, 10, fed the swan bread, and tried to keep him calm during the drama. They named him Callum.
With some help from family and friends, the swan was led in to a nearby garden. Eventually swan rescuer Len Golby arrived, and took the swan away to safety.
Jacob and Georgia’s mum Lisa Lowery told the Visiter: “We spotted the swan at around 3pm as we were driving back home on Dover Road. We noticed the train from Liverpool had stopped and the train from Southport was slowing down.
“Unsure of what was causing this, we then saw this beautiful swan on the track. We drove back home, and then ran back up. We called the RSPB who then referred us to RSPCA.
“I think the trains may have been held up for 15 minutes. The swan went back on the track and the children and I were trying to call the swan over through the fence as well as a couple of other residents. We were obviously concerned for its safety as other trains were due.
“Luckily the swan took a run up the track towards Hillside station and took off The children were cheering and then it must have got tired and glided to the side of our road in the pinewoods on Dover Road.
“The children ran down to its rescue with our friends and neighbours. We kept an eye on the swan for almost an hour until we finally got hold of a swan rescuer, Len Golby.
“We were just concerned because the swan was so tired and unable to fly, that it would get knocked down on Waterloo Road.
“Jacob and Georgia named him Callum and fed him bread and kept him calm. A friend of ours managed to get him to a garden where we waited with him until Len arrived. What a great man he was.”
Southport resident David Moore, said: “The swan was slowly walking along the Southportbound track and the train driver was blowing her horn to try to move the swan. The train could only inch forward.
“A train from Southport also stopped and the guards from each train got out on to the track and coaxed the swan on to the embankment.”