Europe politicians support our shared swans
Politicians from across northern Europe have come together to support the continent’s smallest and most threatened swan species – as well as a lone woman who will break records by flying the swans’ epic migration route alongside them.
Sacha Dench from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) will join the Bewick’s swans’ autumn journey, for 7,000km from Russia to the UK, across all the countries represented by the politicians. She will attempt the flight using only a paramotor – a loose wing of fabric from which she will hang with a propeller strapped to her back. She will face extreme cold, heavy storms and dangerous obstructions like power lines. She will be the first woman to use a paramotor to fly such a distance, and to cross the English Channel.
MEPs from among the 11 countries that Sacha will pass through met her at a reception at the European Parliament in Brussels, kindly hosted by South West England MEP Julie Girling.
The number of Bewick’s swans on the migration route has declined by almost half in the last 20 years, with only 18,000 left. Joined up action is needed across all the northern European states in order to protect the swans from dangers including habitat loss and illegal hunting. All the MEPS showed their support for international co-operation to help the Bewick’s swan.
Sacha will conduct aerial surveys and identify flying threats along her journey to help conservation efforts to save the species. She will also meet as many people as she can along the way, in order to gain support for future action that may be needed.
WWT’s Sacha Dench said:
“Part of the purpose of this flight is to bring people together. Firstly politicians from all sides in Brussels, but also along the route I hope to meet farmers, hunters and local communities to help them realise the Bewick’s swan belongs to all of us and needs our support.”
“A huge thank you to all the MEPs I met for leading the way and showing everyone there is international enthusiasm to find international solutions to threats faced by our shared wildlife.”
South West England MEP, and Bewick’s swan species champion, Julia Girling said:
"The decline of the Bewick's swan across Europe is a tragedy. I am delighted to be able to support incentives here in the South West which will ensure their survival into the future. Currently in the European Parliament, work is taking place to ensure the future of this and many other species. We must work across borders to ensure the future preservation of the Bewick's swan and other migratory birds.”
Finland MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen said:
“Our biodiversity is under severe threat. A big part of our spaces, including animals, are endangered, including Bewick’s swans. Help to save them. They are our swans.”
Wales MEP Dr Kay Swinburne said:
“Flying with the swans is an interesting project where we can actually follow the migration of these swans and make sure we know all we can so that, when we set our policies going forward across Europe, we know best how to protect this species of bird.”
Lithuania MEP Petras Auštrevičius said:
“I love swans. These are beautiful birds. I wish Sacha, who will fly over 4,000 miles, to be safe, but to do her job, to follow swans from Siberia to Great Britain. And I think we have to do something more to save those beautiful big white birds.”
London MEP Jean Lambert said:
“These swans come through London on their amazing journey. But of course they’re only going to remain my swans if other people play their part in looking after them. And when we hear about the risk of them being shot, the lead poisoning risks, the loss of habitat, the changes that climate change might bring to their routes, we all have a responsibility to look after these wonderful birds because otherwise they’re going to be nobody’s swans.”
South West England MEP Molly Scott Cato said:
“These really are my swans. Because I live about 10 miles from Slimbridge and the wetland centre there. And I also know the enormous journey they make because I don’t fly myself, even in aeroplanes, so I’ve travelled all the way to Russia by van, so I do appreciate the distances involved. I’m very impressed by Sacha, the human swan, and I’m really looking forward to hearing how her journey goes.”
Find out more at the Flight of the Swans website. Sign up your support for the swans. More information will be added as the expedition develops, and there will be live updates and footage from the sky once Sacha sets off in September 2016.
