SACHA Dench flew in to meet pupils at Walmore Hill Primary School this week, to launch the education programme connected to her Flight of the Swans expedition this autumn.

Brett Stevenson, head teacher, said: “Our school logo features a Bewick’s swan, the species whose migration ‘human swan’ Sacha will follow. Each winter a flock roosts on the flooded common opposite.

“Sacha talked to the children about her planned journey, in a powered paraglider, from Northern Russia back to Gloucestershire and explained why the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) is trying to help Bewick’s swan. Later she gave a flying demonstration and took a photograph of the pupils from the air.”

The learning sessions about bird migration will be available at WWT sites from September.