Oiled swans (From Western Telegraph)

Oiled swans

A family of stricken swans which became oiled in the shadow of a steelworks are making a clean new start in life at a Pembrokeshire bird sanctuary.

The two parents and their six tiny cygnets were brought by the RSPCA to Maria Evans, of Tinkers Hill, Amroth. They had been living on a pond near the Corus Steelworks at Port Talbot and had inexplicably become covered in oil.

They were all in a terrible condition, and the cygnets were only three days old when they were oiled, said Maria. I have never had to clean a bird so young, and we had to do it quickly because if the cygnets were away from their parents for more than 20 minutes they would be rejected and killed.

The swan family was covered in two types of oil - one a light engineering oil and the other described by Maria as real tarry stuff. But they have responded well to the clean-up operation, with only one of the cygnets failing to pull through.

Its still a mystery as to how they came to be oiled, as Corus says it has carried out an investigation and cant say how the oil has got in to the pond, said Maria.

But the swans wont be going back there. When they are ready to leave in a few months time, we will settle them somewhere pleasant in Pembrokeshire.

Tinkers Hill will benefit from part of the proceeds of the exhibition Wings and Wales by Harry Gardiner, which is at the Colby Woodland Gallery from June 16th to 29th.