A swan stuck in an ice-covered pond was saved in the nick of time by pensioner Joan Scott.

Three-year-old Swanny was minutes away from dying of hypothermia.

But Mrs Scott, 84, was determined it would not be the bird's swansong.

The drama unfolded at Selby Animal Sanctuary, Hambleton, North Yorkshire.

Mrs Scott said: "It was still almost dark when I saw Swanny stuck in the ice near the edge of the pond.

"She had her head inside her wing and I thought she was dead."

Mrs Scott, who is 4ft 9in and weighs just over six stones, carried the swan to an empty straw-filled cattery, where she dried it with towels.

She said: "I knew I had to get some fluids down her pretty quickly or she would have been a goner, so I put my hands round her head and breathed gently on to her beak.

"It was as near as you could get to the kiss of life and it certainly did the trick."

The bird has since made a complete recovery.