Northwest Europe's threatened Bewick's swan population boosted by a bumper year for chicks.
Numbers of the bird have declined dramatically since the 1990s.
Up to 7,000 Bewick's swans usually migrate to the UK, arriving in October and flying back to Russia in March.
But surveys this year show the number of young among these wintering flocks has risen to 17.6%, compared to an average of around 10% over the past 10 years.
Ornithologists have reported an overall average of 14% young swans in flocks across northern Europe, the highest since 2001.
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