A SWAN with a fishing hook embedded in its leg has become the latest casualty to fall victim to summertime anglers in Worcester.

The swan had become tangled up in a willow tree, close to the Diglis weir, with the hook biting into its leg.

Fire crews were able to rescue the bird during pouring rain yesterday afternoon, and release it back on to the river, but it is the latest in asuccession of accidents involving swans and fishing line on the River Severn, in Worcester.

On Saturday three swans had to be rescued and one had had its neck sliced through to the bone by fishing line.

"It's been really bad lately," said Edward Bird, from the Bishops Wood Rescue Centre, near Stourport-on-Severn.

"We've got nothing against people angling but a lot of this is sheer laziness, with lengths of lines cut and discarded on banks, for example.

"For this swan to get the hook in its leg it would have had to have swum though a line that was not pulled in.

"We spotted him over by the weir, tangled in the tree with a triple hook in its leg. The line was attached to a willow tree and the bird was tethered there by its leg.

"I managed to remove the hook and he was OK but it could have been a lot worse."

While Mr Bird was waiting for the fire crew to arrive with the inflatable, he spotted a second bird, with a big lump in its neck.

"It looked like it had swallowed a hook and line. The food builds up on it and forms a big lump," said Mr Bird.

"We took him into the rescue centre and he'll need to have an operation but he's saveable."

Mr Bird has performed 31 bird rescues during July alone on behalf of the Bishops Wood Rescue Centre, where he works as a volunteer.

The centre is helping Worcester's own Swan Rescue Centre, which is being overrun with cases involving injured birds.