Todays Sightings - Festival of swans weekend
A fantastic start to the day with our swans awake event, a beautiful sunrise and lots of whooper and Bewick’s swans!
The wash road is unfortunately still closed due to flooding this affects visitors from the West side of the Ouse washes (eg Wisbech, Manea) a diversion is in place, the flooded road and diversions do not affect anyone coming to WWT Welney from the East side of the washes eg Littleport, Newmarket, Kings Lynn.
Due to flooding the footpaths at WWT Welney are closed and the only hides open are the main observatory and the visitor centre. However the water levels are now going down so fingers crossed the footpaths to the other hides will open again soon!
The flooding does not affect the festival of swans activities including the swan feeds or hare walks.
Lots of birds infront of the cafe windows including hundreds of whooper swans, 2 Bewick’s swans, shelduck, ruff, golden plover, lapwing, dunlin, pintail, sparrowhawk, 6 tree sparrows.
Great swan ring reading workshop, we were able to read 27 rings which is the most we have ever read at WWT Welney! We saw Wimble, Aurelie and Skyfall amongst lots of others. Wimble is at least 17 years old!
Volunteers from the BTO were here today doing a bird ringing demonstration. They ringed over 70 birds including Long-tailed tits, house sparrows, dunnock, goldfinches and much more.
10 hares on the 10:30am hare walk
Todays sightings - 63 species
Bewicks swan
Whooper swan
Mute swan
Greylag goose
Canada goose
Cormorant
Grey heron
Little egret
Goldeneye
Mallard
Shelduck
Gadwall
Shoveler
Pintail
Teal
Tufted duck
Pochard
Coot
Moorhen
Water rail – under the feeders
Black-headed gull
Lesser black backed gull
Greater black-backed gull
Common gull
Black-tailed godwits
Dunlin 100+
Snipe
Redshank
Golden plover
Lapwing
Ruff
Kestrel
Barn owl - swans awake
Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Marsh harrier
Crow
Rook
Jackdaw
Magpie
Woodpigeon
Stock dove
Collared dove
Skylark
Meadow pipit
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
House sparrow
Tree sparrow -6 on the feeders
Blue tit
Great tit
Long-tailed tits
Dunnock
Redwing
Starling
Fieldfare
Robin
Blackbird
Song thrush
Mistle thrush
Reed bunting
Cetti’s warbler
