Migrant mile-eaters: long-distance flyers about to touch down
A kingfisher has flown more than 620 miles from Poland to Suffolk to escape harsh weather.
Its migration has beaten the 603-mile record for a British kingfisher, set by a bird which flew from Pembrokeshire to northern Spain.
The new record holder was found at the National Trust’s Orford Ness reserve and probably saw the site’s marshes as an opportunity to refuel.
More than 10 million waterbirds are currently doing the same, flying thousands of miles to overwinter in the UK. Many of them are heading to WWT centres.
More than 500 whooper swans have just arrived at our Martin Mere centre, after 900 mile flights from Iceland, prompting the resumption of the reserve’s daily Swan Spectacular feeds.
Whooper swans also overwinter at WWT’s Caerlaverock reserve in Scotland, Martin Mere in Lancashire and Welney in Norfolk, and Bewick’s swans – Britain’s rarest swan – are returning to WWT reserves at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire and Welney in Norfolk, where public swan feeds are also being staged.
These birds migrate from Arctic Russia. Many more are expected in the UK with a north-easterly tailwind.
Caerlaverock and the wider Solway Firth hosts the entire 35,000 population of Svalbard barnacle geese which fly more than 1,700 miles from Norway.
Castle Espie, overlooking Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, attracts most of the world’s light-bellied brent geese in winter.
Shelduck, shoveler and several species of migrant waders are among other seasonal visitors usually seen from Castle Espie hides. Grebes, divers, rails and gulls are among other species spending the cold months in the UK.
They and many other spectacular flocks of birds will soon offer stunning viewing spectacles at WWT centres and you follow their fortunes on WWT’s popular Migration Watch blog. There may even be the odd kingfisher.
