WILD swans should face a safer New Year in Westhoughton as Norweb draws up plans to protect them from overhead power cables.

As reported in yesterday's BEN, birds landing and taking off from a pond at Lanns Farm, off Hindley Road, Westhoughton, have been injured or killed after hitting the lines.

In the last year, three swans have died after flying into the 33,000 volt power lines above the picturesque pond.

Killed

Only on Christmas Day, a male swan was killed as it flew towards the pond with its mate and a cygnet.

Norweb say they are taking the problem seriously and are currently in discussions with Bolton's conservation officer and swan preservation officer to find the best way of tackling the problem.

The company is planning to install bird flight diverters on the cables to try to stop the accidents.

"These will protect the swans and our overhead lines," said a spokeswoman.

The company is still weighing up how best to install the high visibility devices.

One option would be to switch off the current temporarily or, as they have previously done at a similar site in Southport, bring in a specialist team to fix the diverters onto the cables without interrupting the power supply.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.