HOLBROOK/IPSWICH: Three “ugly ducklings” are today turning into graceful swans at the end of a happy-ending Suffolk rescue story that will move many to tears.

The cygnets will soon fly into the skies at Holbrook, near Ipswich, after becoming this summer’s most unlikely rescue family.

Abandoned by their parents after a series of tragic mishaps – and with two of their kindred cygnets dying along the way – the trio have made it to near adulthood and the joys of freedom.

Faith, Hope and Charity are maturing into beautiful mute swans after being loved and cared for from chicks by Brian and Diana Spiers. Now the birds, latest recruits to the Queen’s flights as protected royal birds, are practising their take-offs ready to fly away.

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