News
Bird moves get underway
The season is over; bird moves have begun! Already up to 150 birds have passed to and fro as part of the seasonal distribution of stock. It is a sad and exciting moment to see the birds you worked so hard to breed leave your care. They hatch and grow into
21 October 2011
Bewick's in Britain!
The first three Bewick's swans arrived at our Welney centre last night, officially kicking off the swan season here in the UK! The wind, although in the 'wrong' direction, was very light and the skies were clear so visibility was good for flying. Day l
21 October 2011
Conservation in action!
There is notable movement of song thrush on site today, with 11 birds spotted along the river footpath as I carried out the daily fence check this morning. I had a ‘conservation in action!’ moment as well, when I found 40 redwing feeding in the newly-
21 October 2011
Swan Spectacular begins at WWT Martin Mere
The first 500 Whooper swans have made the 900km journey from Iceland and arrived to spend the winter at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre. The swans arrived on Wednesday 19 October and included 32 cygnets which may be a good indication that the breeding seas
21 October 2011
Bewick's arrive
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21 October 2011
Wildlife sightings
Wader Lake. Time - AM. Tide Level - Mid: Teal 80 Gadwall 2 Mallard 21 Shoveler 4 Black-headed gull 107 Greater black-backed gull 1 Lesser black-backed gull 4 [...]
21 October 2011
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