Ringed swans at WWT Welney
It's that time of year again where we welcome back some familiar faces to WWT Welney Wetland Centre in the form of ringed whooper and Bewick's swans. In amongst the crowds of birds we hope to be able to continue the stories of those swans that have at some point in their life been caught and fitted with identification leg rings or neck collars. As ever the more eyes we have scanning the flocks of swans, the more rings we can hope to find and the more information we can gain for these important research projects.
We do have a small group of resident whooper swans, some of which are also ringed and can be easily seen at the swan feeds a few of these are DH6, DH9 and X3C.
So far this winter we have had sightings of nine ringed swans and we hope this to be the tip of the iceburg. All the swans so far have been whooper swans and the details of these individuals are below:
FZ6 (yellow ring) - Wimble, a female swan ringed in Iceland in 2000 and a regular winter visitor to WWT Welney.
Z56 (yellow ring) - a female swan ringed at WWT Caerlaverock in 2005 and normally spends the winter in Scotland.
BLY (red ring) - a male swan ringed at WWT Martin Mere in 2006 and a regular winter visitor to the North East until now. One of this birds parents is Virginia Two (VJA) recorded at WWT Martin Mere last year.
S96 (yellow ring) - a male swan ringed at WWT Martin Mere in 2006 and has been both there and to WWT Welney in past winters.
V75 (yellow ring) - a male swan ringed at WWT Caerlaverock in 2009 and has been both there, WWT Martin mere and to WWT Welney in past winters.
ACH (red ring) - a male swan ringed in Iceland in 2010; this is the first time it has been recorded in the UK.
BUX (yellow ring) - a female swan ringed in Iceland this summer.
BSY (yellow ring) - a male swan ringed in Iceland this summer.
52U (yellow ring) - a male swan seen at RSPB Titchwell a week ago, ringed in Iceland in 2003 and has wintered in Cumbria and at WWT Welney in the past.
