Slimbridge Wetland Centre
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The wait is over!
Photo credit: James Lees The first four Bewick's swans flew into Slimbridge this morning,the latest arrival date since 1969! It was no coincidence that their arrival occurred alongside a drop in temperatures, crystal
6 November 2014
Latest arrival of Bewick’s at Slimbridge since 1969!
Exceptionally warm weather delivered from sub-tropical latitudes by strong south-westerly winds has stalled the mass migration of Bewick’s swans across Europe. We are in a very unusual situation for November – swanless at Slimbridge! The Bewick’s h
4 November 2014
The wonders of Estonia!
This month I was fortunate enough to visit Estonia with the BBC Autumnwatch team to join swan conservationist Leho Luigujõe and film the first Bewick’s swans on migration! All photos on this page taken by Leho Luigujõe
29 October 2014
Bewick's reach Britain!
The first big wave of Bewick’s have arrived in north-west Europe! Around 1,000 flew into key swan sites in the Netherlands including Lauwersmeer, Ijsselmeer, Markiezaat and Veluwemeer according to Dutch ornithologist Wim Tijsen, part of the network of B
23 October 2014
Hope makes good progress!
We are very excited to bring you some news of Hope, one of our transmitter birds! Some of you may remember that Hope was caught on the Ouse Washes last winter and fitted with a light-weight satellite transmitter. We then followed her long journey back to
17 October 2014
The Bewick's are coming!
News from Russia - the Bewick’s swans are on their way! The first swans were seen leaving their summer arctic breeding grounds on 25 September (Andrey Stepanovich & Yulia Leonova). Thousands more have since followed, embarking on an incredible and c
8 October 2014
Migration news!
This winter, a team of dedicated WWT staff and volunteers spent many hours sitting in soggy, cold fields on the Ouse Washes in Norfolk, waiting to catch some Bewick’s swans under a cannon-fired net. Releasing birds
3 April 2014
Au revoir!
Our last two Bewick’s swans at Slimbridge have now embarked on their journey back to arctic Russia drawing to a close what has been a rather memorable swan season. Swans arriving at Slimbridge (G. Hann) Following th
19 March 2014
Lone cygnet migrates with adopted family
Annie, our lone cygnet left behind after her parents migrated back to Russia, has now left Slimbridge with her newly adopted family! Annie We were very pleased to see Annie becoming closer to Wooton and Stinchcombe an
10 March 2014
Parents leave cygnet behind...
As we see signs of spring around our reserves we are savouring the last signs of winter by enjoying the final few migratory swans. There are now ten Bewick’s swans left at Slimbridge including parents Wooton and Stinchcombe and their four cygnets, the l
27 February 2014
Swans reach Lithuania!
The Bewick’s are emptying out of the country with numbers dropping sharply on the Ouse Washes the most important wintering site for the species in Northwest Europe. The area had been humming with just over 1,000 birds until recently but westerly breezes
24 February 2014
Spring migration underway!
The first 70 Bewick’s swans have left Slimbridge for arctic Russia, embarking on a migration that may cover 2,500 miles and taking them up to 8 weeks to complete. These swans made the most of calm, clear evenings last Friday and again last night to leav
21 February 2014
New arrivals in the UK as snow hits Germany
The cold, snowy weather in Germany seems to have prompted a few individuals to fly that little bit further and finally make it to Slimbridge. These are very late arrivals given that the Bewick’s are just weeks away from leaving on spring migration back
31 January 2014
50th anniversary of Bewick’s swan research!
Peter Scott watching the swans at Slimbridge (photo by Lady Philippa Scott) Today WWT is celebrating 50 years of
23 January 2014
An unusual winter so far.....
This really is panning out to be a rather unusual winter! With the lowest number of Bewick's swans recorded at Slimbridge since 1965 and with around 1,000 on the Ouse Washes when we might expect up to 5,000, we have been asking our network of dedicated sw
16 January 2014