THE death of a swan has saddened residents in Middleton St George.

The swan had taken up residence in the village's water park but was found dead on Monday.

At this week's parish council meeting, chairman Coun Doris Jones said: "I received a very sad e-mail from a resident reporting that the swan had died.

"It was beautiful and used to come up to the edge of the water and meet you. But it was found with fishing twine around its neck."

She said that the swan had been reported to the RSPCA on February 28, but that after five failed attempts to catch it inspectors had given up.

Coun Jones said: "I've made a complaint to an inspector because I am not happy that they were aware of it and that someone came out on Monday and found it dead but left it there. The inspector then came out again to collect it.

"Thet told me they had given a lot of time to it and that they had other demands."