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A "stressed" swan and her cygnet had to be rescued by firefighters after becoming trapped on a frozen lake.

The birds found themselves stuck when they fell through thin ice on the boating lake in Liverpool's Sefton Park on Sunday, the RSPCA said.

Fire crews waded through the icy water to free the mother swan while a family and an off-duty police officer broke ice to release the cygnet.

The RSPCA said the birds were not hurt and made for their nearby nesting site.

"The two swans appeared to have trodden on the thin ice on the surface of the lake which had then given way, causing the birds' legs to slip through and trap them," RSPCA inspector Caren Goodman-James said.

"Sefton Park was really crowded and a lot of well-meaning people gathered around the edge of the lake were throwing objects at the ice to try to break it."

However, the birds were becoming "increasingly stressed" and "desperate".

The inspector said a firefighter from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service waded in to free the mother swan who was in thick ice near the centre of the lake,

An-off duty police officer helped move the crowd back and, with the help of a family, helped the younger swan by breaking the ice around it.

The RSPCA said both birds appeared uninjured by their ordeal.