Conservationist to fly 4,500 miles in motorised parachute to save UK swan

Sacha Dench will brave arctic Russian temperatures to trace the migration route of Bewick's swans to find out why their population has halved in 20 years

A British conservationist is taking to the skies next year for a daring and uncomfortable 4,500-mile journey across the Russian Arctic to help save the UK's smallest and shyest swan.

Sacha Dench plans to use a paramotor - a kind of parachute propelled by a motor - to brave temperatures of -9C (15.8F) as she mirrors the Bewick's swan's yearly migration route. The swans migrate as the northern Russian winter turns inhospitable and birds travel west to Britain and other milder climes.