Britain's 'unluckiest swan' hatches after wildlife enthusiast builds makeshift raft to save eggs (RAW)

A wildlife lover who built a make-shift raft to save eggs laid by 'Britain's unluckiest swan' has been rewarded - by seeing them hatch for the first time in 10 years.For a decade Rob Adamson, 42, had watched from his narrowboat home as a series of disasters rob the swan of her eggs.Flooding and raiding foxes had deprived the female swan and her partner from becoming parents at their home off the Great River Ouse, Cambs.So last week as heavy rain threatened to push river levels high enough to drown the swan's latest nest, Rob stepped in to rescue the eight eggs she had laid.After building a make-shift raft to help the nest float, he was rewarded today (thurs) to discover that cygnets had finally hatched from the eggs. Rob said he was the "happiest man on earth" after he finally saw seven of the eight cygnets hatching, making the pair of swans parents for the first time.Rob said: "It feels like all my Christmases have come at once.

I've felt like an expectant dad, waiting to see if the cygnets would hatch. "I'm the happiest man on the planet, just to know that I played my part in helping the nest to survive."Rob said he was up well into the night last Friday putting together the makeshift raft out of plastic pallets, half a sheet of plywood, and some rope to stop it from floating away.He said: "I just knew if it kept raining and the water level kept going up, that nest was going to be in trouble. "It could have ended up more than two feet underwater if I had not moved it.

I just knew I had to do something to help."I've seen these two swans around here for at least the last ten years, but this is the first time I'm aware of that their eggs have actually hatched."I know you're not supposed to interfere with the nest, but it's got to the point where there's a level of trust that's built up between us now."Rob has previously hand-reared a cygnet that he named Sidney, after the chick was abandoned by its mother in 2018, and the pair became inseparable, with Rob saying he felt like a "proud father".He said he released Sidney into the wild when the time was right - but that the bird remained in the area and he continued to see Sidney often. Now, Rob will keep a watchful eye out for these newly-hatched cygnets, as their first-time parents care for them while they grow.

A wildlife lover who built a make-shift raft to save eggs laid by 'Britain's unluckiest swan' has been rewarded - by seeing them hatch for the first time in 10 years.For a decade Rob Adamson, 42, had watched from his narrowboat home as a series of disasters rob the swan of her eggs.Flooding and raiding foxes had deprived the female swan and her partner from becoming parents at their home off the Great River Ouse, Cambs.So last week as heavy rain threatened to push river levels high enough to drown the swan's latest nest, Rob stepped in to rescue the eight eggs she had laid.After building a make-shift raft to help the nest float, he was rewarded today (thurs) to discover that cygnets had finally hatched from the eggs.

Rob said he was the "happiest man on earth" after he finally saw seven of the eight cygnets hatching, making the pair of swans parents for the first time.Rob said: "It feels like all my Christmases have come at once.

I've felt like an expectant dad, waiting to see if the cygnets would hatch.

"I'm the happiest man on the planet, just to know that I played my part in helping the nest to survive."Rob said he was up well into the night last Friday putting together the makeshift raft out of plastic pallets, half a sheet of plywood, and some rope to stop it from floating away.He said: "I just knew if it kept raining and the water level kept going up, that nest was going to be in trouble.

"It could have ended up more than two feet underwater if I had not moved it.

I just knew I had to do something to help."I've seen these two swans around here for at least the last ten years, but this is the first time I'm aware of that their eggs have actually hatched."I know you're not supposed to interfere with the nest, but it's got to the point where there's a level of trust that's built up between us now."Rob has previously hand-reared a cygnet that he named Sidney, after the chick was abandoned by its mother in 2018, and the pair became inseparable, with Rob saying he felt like a "proud father".He said he released Sidney into the wild when the time was right - but that the bird remained in the area and he continued to see Sidney often.

Now, Rob will keep a watchful eye out for these newly-hatched cygnets, as their first-time parents care for them while they grow.