A REPENTANT vandal who hit a swan with a stone in Marlborough and then called the RSPCA has probably saved its life.

The swan would probably have recovered from the knock it received on the head from the stone.

However when it was checked over by vets it was found to have lead poisoning from where it had ingested anglers' lead shot. If left untreated the poisoning would have been fatal.

On Friday the fully recovered male swan was reunited with his brood of five cygnets on the River Kennet in the George Lane car park in Marlborough.

The RSPCA had a telephone call almost three months ago from a boy who said he had thrown a stone that had struck the cob on its head.

It's not known if the stone had been deliberately aimed at the swan or had been carelessly thrown.

Mike Korkis and Marilyn Watson from the Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital were asked by the RSPCA to catch the injured swan. Ms Watson said they had little trouble in finding the injured bird because it had a lump on its head from the stone and it was listless and did not resist capture.

The swan was taken back to the wildlife hospital at Newton Tony, near Salisbury, and was examined by the Strathmore veterinary practice in Andover, which the wildlife hospital uses for bird patients.

Ms Watson said: "They discovered he had lead poisoning.

"We had to keep it at the hospital and give it a medicine twice a day to counteract the lead."

Mr Korkis explained that swans, in common with other wildfowl, pick up small stones that stay in their gizzards helping them grind and digest their food.

Unfortunately, said Mr Korkis, the weights used by anglers and lead shot discharged from shotguns is the same size as the stones the birds pick up and they frequently ingest the lead that acts as a slow poison.