Bewick's brave winds to arrive at Slimbridge!
Seven Bewick’s swans made the most of the calm before the storm to continue their journey and reach Slimbridge yesterday!
Leading them was Humbugs who has been the first to arrive for the last three winters! Like clockwork, she arrived on exactly the same date last year – quite amazing timing given that she has travelled 2,500 miles! Unusually there was a family party with one cygnet within the group. Families often arrive a little later perhaps needing more time to migrate with their young. Steve and I now have the challenging task of identifying the other individuals!
Over the weekend, my colleague Kane Brides and his friend Cain Scrimgeour travelled around Estonia looking for the Bewick’s on migration. The Estonian wetlands are very important for the swans in the autumn and spring, often hosting several thousand as they temporarily stop off to feed and rest before embarking on the next leg of their journey. They managed to see 256 Bewick’s along with 400 whooper swans and 1,500 mute swans on lake Läänemaa near Haapsalu, plus some smaller groups at Matsulu and Lake Peipsi.
They even managed to spot a Slimbridge ringed swan among the masses (although the ring was just too far away to identify) and a swan that was ringed (352A) in Holland by Trinus Haitjema. Dutch ornithologist Wim Tijsen was particularly pleased to hear of 352A as he often sees this bird when he comes to Welney for his annual ‘swan holiday’. He wrote
“ 352A is my favourite Welney bird, I never missed it on from 2001 on every trip, since when it was ringed. It is always on the Old 100 farm, close to Nordelph, but the last years it prefers more the Euximoor Fen and the Feltwell Anchor area near Southery.”
