Stavros
05-18-2013, 06:42 PM
I thought this was just another daft Daily Mail story but in a way it is strangely affectionate.
Do you have guilty pleasures? I like railway stations, but I am not besotted with them...full link follows the ad (warning, contains graphic video)
A swan has been grounded for his own safety after falling head over heels in love with a helicopter.
The bird - called Whooper - has developed an unusual attachment to the £6million chopper and tries to fly up to meet it every time it comes into land.
Whooper has been looking for a new mate for the past two years in the skies over Les Mielles Golf and Country Club on the Channel Island of Jersey after losing his partner.
But instead of falling for a fellow bird he’s become obsessed with the dark-coloured Eurocopter that regularly lands at the adjacent airstrip.
Dozens of different choppers fly in and out of the runway every week - but Whooper only has eyes for the EC155.
Air traffic controllers at Jersey Airport say the infatuated swan recognises the five-tonne chopper’s twin-engines whenever it flies in.
Whooper immediately takes to the skies to try and reach it before chasing it down the runway, then sitting and nestling by it until its owner flies off again.
But the helicopter's pilot is so terrified the besotted bird - named after its species the whooper swan - will fly into its rotor blades they’ve been forced to clip his wings.
Danielle Le Brun, who works at the golf club, said bosses had no option but to ground the swan.
He said: 'He lost his mate a couple of years ago and has been flying high around the area looking for a mate.
'Apparently he has taken a fancy to a helicopter up at the airport and so as responsible owners we decided to get his wings clipped by a vet.
'We have lots of other swans here but we don’t have any other whooper swans.
'He seems very happy but I would like to find him a female white swan - but this is Jersey and there aren’t many around.
'So if anyone can help me find him a mate that would be brilliant. It would also stop him flying around the airport when his feathers grown back.'
The 200mph EC155 can carry up to 13 passengers along with two crew members and is normally used to ferry private passengers and VIPs.
The chopper’s owner is understood to be a wealthy businessman who lives on Guernsey and regularly hops between the two islands.
A Jersey Airport spokesman confirmed that Whooper had created a potential hazard by 'flirting' with the incoming aircraft.
He added: 'It seems that the swan fell in love with the helicopter, and as romantic as this may seem, it did create a potential hazard and so its wings were clipped.
'There has been no repeat incidents since this happened.'
Whooper swans normally pair for life and are fiercely protective of their offspring.
Weighing as much as 14 kg (31lsb) they are some of the animal world’s heaviest flyers and are revered as the national bird of Finland.
Dr Glyn Young, a Jersey-based conservation biologist, who has been made aware of Whooper’s plight, said swans can occasionally do some 'very weird things'.
He added: 'It certainly isn’t natural.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326070/Lonely-swan-grounded-fell-love-helicopter-mate-died.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Do you have guilty pleasures? I like railway stations, but I am not besotted with them...full link follows the ad (warning, contains graphic video)
A swan has been grounded for his own safety after falling head over heels in love with a helicopter.
The bird - called Whooper - has developed an unusual attachment to the £6million chopper and tries to fly up to meet it every time it comes into land.
Whooper has been looking for a new mate for the past two years in the skies over Les Mielles Golf and Country Club on the Channel Island of Jersey after losing his partner.
But instead of falling for a fellow bird he’s become obsessed with the dark-coloured Eurocopter that regularly lands at the adjacent airstrip.
Dozens of different choppers fly in and out of the runway every week - but Whooper only has eyes for the EC155.
Air traffic controllers at Jersey Airport say the infatuated swan recognises the five-tonne chopper’s twin-engines whenever it flies in.
Whooper immediately takes to the skies to try and reach it before chasing it down the runway, then sitting and nestling by it until its owner flies off again.
But the helicopter's pilot is so terrified the besotted bird - named after its species the whooper swan - will fly into its rotor blades they’ve been forced to clip his wings.
Danielle Le Brun, who works at the golf club, said bosses had no option but to ground the swan.
He said: 'He lost his mate a couple of years ago and has been flying high around the area looking for a mate.
'Apparently he has taken a fancy to a helicopter up at the airport and so as responsible owners we decided to get his wings clipped by a vet.
'We have lots of other swans here but we don’t have any other whooper swans.
'He seems very happy but I would like to find him a female white swan - but this is Jersey and there aren’t many around.
'So if anyone can help me find him a mate that would be brilliant. It would also stop him flying around the airport when his feathers grown back.'
The 200mph EC155 can carry up to 13 passengers along with two crew members and is normally used to ferry private passengers and VIPs.
The chopper’s owner is understood to be a wealthy businessman who lives on Guernsey and regularly hops between the two islands.
A Jersey Airport spokesman confirmed that Whooper had created a potential hazard by 'flirting' with the incoming aircraft.
He added: 'It seems that the swan fell in love with the helicopter, and as romantic as this may seem, it did create a potential hazard and so its wings were clipped.
'There has been no repeat incidents since this happened.'
Whooper swans normally pair for life and are fiercely protective of their offspring.
Weighing as much as 14 kg (31lsb) they are some of the animal world’s heaviest flyers and are revered as the national bird of Finland.
Dr Glyn Young, a Jersey-based conservation biologist, who has been made aware of Whooper’s plight, said swans can occasionally do some 'very weird things'.
He added: 'It certainly isn’t natural.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326070/Lonely-swan-grounded-fell-love-helicopter-mate-died.html?ito=feeds-newsxml