Yorkshire Swan Rescue Hospital

Become a Swan Warden

YSRH receives calls for help from across the North of England and the North & East Midlands. We are looking for volunteers to act as Swan Wardens to assist us in responding to sick and injured swans as quickly as possible. We are based in York and if we get a call in Nottingham, for example, it can take us up to two hours to get there. The role of a Swan Warden would be to go out ahead of us and check to see what the situation is with the swan with a view to helping the swan quicker and saving us a long and possibly unnecessary journey.

ANY ONE OF ANY AGE CAN BECOME A SWAN WARDEN! (If you are under 18 we must speak to your guardian and they must accompany you on rescues) WE CAN PROVIDE FULL TRAINING, EQUIPMENT AND IDENTIFICATION. All you have to do is to specify what days of the week you are able to be on call, what times you can and can not go out to rescues, how far you are able to travel and what situations you feel comfortable helping in.

Everyone has their limits and preferences and if you specify these we will respect them. The following are examples of incidents we would call a Swan Warden out to:

Example: A swan is in a boat yard in Nottingham with fishing tackle stuck in her beak, it’s 4pm and the boat yard is about to lock up for the day. Our swan warden is called and can get there much quicker than we can in time for the yard closing and remove the hook placing the swan back onto the water safely.

Example: A swan has crash-landed on a busy road in Derbyshire. He appears uninjured but is in immediate danger of being run over. By the time we get there from York it will be either too late or we will get all the way there to find that the swan has flown off. Our swan warden is called and manages to get there within minutes and pick the swan up off the road, check him over for injuries and place him back on the water safely.

Example: A member of the public in Lincolnshire calls us out to a family of swans they are concerned about. The lake they are on is drying up slowly. As it is not an emergency and it is a long distance from us our swan warden is called out to go and assess the situation and if need be send us photographs of the lake. Together with the Swan Warden we decide that there is no immediate danger to the swans and that the lake is not yet dried up enough to justify moving the family of swans. The swan warden is to return in the next couple of weeks and re-assess the situation.

Example: It is getting dark and we receive a call about a female swan in a park in Manchester covered in blood from a suspected dog attack. As it is getting dark the chances of us getting there in good time to see and catch the swan are slim. Our swan warden is called out to catch the swan and we then go over to collect her.

If you are interested in becoming a swan warden please contact us for more information.