News
Eric! A trip to the beach
Well, not quite the beach... The three babes are now getting on for 500g, and spend much of their time clamouring for more food. Their distinct personalities are showing through well. Number 1 is (to me) perfection! (She) is ever so statuesque, graceful
20 October 2011
Whoopers fly in as Bewick's move closer!
The familiar bugling call and flashes of yellow and black beaks got the pulses racing at Slimbridge this morning but still no Bewick’s to be seen! Two whooper swans touched down on the reserve, intriguingly with two young mute swans. The whooper swan, w
20 October 2011
The story so far from Caerlaverock...
Barnacle geese numbers were up to 6,000 on 8 October, lower than last year due to the south westerly winds holding them back on the Norwegian coast but another 25-30,000 are due soon. The first whooper swans arrived earlier than before on 15 September
20 October 2011
October wildlife
Migrant Hawker October's always great for seeing a variety of birds at London Wetland Centre, from the pretty teal and wigeon, to the shy snipe, to the big brown showstopper of a bird, the bittern. But this October -
20 October 2011
The story from Martin Mere so far...
We’ve seen over 8,000 pink-footed geese arrive, and 50 whooper swans, which is less than last year due to the hot weather but numbers are now beginning to rise. We hope to see up to 2,000 whoopers by mid November.
19 October 2011
The story from Welney so far...
We saw the first nine whooper swans arrive on 15 September, and that number has now increased to over 400. We’ve seen numbers grow for wigeon, teal, pintail, shoveler and gadwall. There are still a few passage migrants coming through the rese
19 October 2011
The story from Llanelli so far...
17/10 Two great white egrets on the saline lagoons in front of the Brirish steel hide and a wryneck is still present. Other sightings include 31 lapwing, 285 black-tailed godwit, 88 knot, 300 curlew, 540 oystercatcher, greenshank, spotted redshank, 45 red
19 October 2011
The story from Slimbridge so far...
Migration has so far been a bit slow with the warm temperatures and winds, meaning winter duck species such as pochard and pintail have been held up, and the first white fronted geese arrived on 14 October. Although, there have been lots of waders to see
19 October 2011
The story from London so far...
So far we’ve seen a variety of wildfowl, including up to 150 teal when the Thames tide is in. We’re expecting shoveler and gadwall shortly. We’ve got around 12 snipe, plus one jack snipe. Three ruff dropped in earlier, and we’ve seen a dunlin, gre
19 October 2011
The story from Arundel so far...
So far, we had three snipe arrive on the 8 October, followed by one more the day later. Water rail have been spotted from the reedbed hide. In total, we’ve had 50 teal, 6 shoveler have been seen but we think there’s more out there. We’
19 October 2011
Out on the reserve today
Another influx of whooper swans last night at Welney and we have heard from the continent that the Bewick's swans are on their way! [...]
19 October 2011
Wildlife sightings - including greenshank
Wader Lake a.m. tide level mid Heron 2 Teal 91 Black-headed gull 232 Greenshank 1 Lapwing 7 Hawthorn Wood: Great-spotted woodpecker 2 Sparrowhawk 1 [...]
19 October 2011
The swans are on their way!
My inbox has been buzzing with news that the great Bewick’s swan migration is underway and on time! The first birds arrived in Lithuania at the end of September, and since then, nearly a thousand have dropped into the Netherlands! Seeing the swans arriv
18 October 2011
Local wildlife warden helps save world’s rarest duck
Film about the project opens at London Wetland Centre Idris Bhatti A local wildlife warden from WWT London Wetland Centre has been instrumental in leading a vital conservation mission to Madagascar. Londoner Idris Bha
18 October 2011
October - busy, busy
Last week was a really busy week for me and I wasn't really at the centre much. We have meetings reagularly for our Centre Managers from across the country and these are really useful and great for catching up with the other centres news! At the meetin
17 October 2011