A MAN who discovered a shot swan left for dead on a Worcester riverbank is nurturing her cygnets while she fights back to health.

Stewart Spencer found the adult female lying on the riverbank near The Ketch pub, St Peter's, on Wednesday, October 9, with an air rifle pellet stuck in her throat.

"The cygnets are staying by my static caravan until the mother, who is recovering at Swan Rescue in Wychbold, is well enough to return home," said the 61-year-old, who lives at a nearby caravan park.

"The cygnets are very friendly with me and I have had to pull hooks out of their necks already this year.

"The male is a bit more stand-offish but since the female has been shot he is a lot more friendly and even takes bread from my hand in the garden."

But he has criticised the RSPCA after claiming nobody turned up to rescue the bird after one officer assured him it would be a priority the following morning.

"I rang the Duckworth Trust and someone from there eventually came in and collected the swan," he added.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA maintained that three unsuccessful attempts had been made by officers to rescue the bird, before it was eventually captured.

On Monday, the Evening News revealed that eight swans had been taken to Bishop's Wood Rescue Centre suffering from lead poisoning as a result of illegal fishing.

The centre has collected three dead swans from the riverbanks around the Worcester Bridge area, all believed to have suffered chronic lead poisoning.

Swan-lover Mary Billingham has called for Worcestershire angling clubs to make sure they are fishing legally.

"Why can't the angling clubs themselves check their members or other fisherman along the banks around Worcester to find if they are fishing legally and check what tackle they are using?" she said.

"Something really must be done to stop this carnage of such beautiful birds."