First woman paramotorist crosses the Channel - flying route of migratory swans

Sacha Dench landed near Dover and became the first woman to make it across the Channel in a motorised paraglider Credit: ITV

The first woman to make it across the English Channel in a motorised paraglider touched down in a field near Dover this morning.

Sacha Dench flew across the busiest shipping lane in the world to try to understand why fewer migratory swans are arriving in Britain every year.

Bewick swans are the smallest and rarest members of the swan family. In just 15 years their numbers have dropped by a third.

So Sacha Dench has been using a paramotor to act like a 'human swan'. She followed the swans' migration from Northern Russia's Arctic shore, through Europe, and across the North Sea to Kent.

She was trying to find out how much of an impact hunting, loss of habitat and the danger of power lines is having on the numbers of Bewick swans.

Abigail Bracken's report includes video courtesy of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.