Highest count of the winter so far
The fraught hooting and honking gave the game away this morning as I made my way to the hide. Eight new swans were busily establishing themselves on the lake, along with several birds that had returned to the reserve after ‘disappearing’ to other sites earlier in the winter. This pushed the total up to 179, the peak count so far this winter!
Despite the latest influx, numbers are still lower than usual. Since the first Bewick’s, led by Dario, touched down at Slimbridge on 25 October, 255 birds have visited the reserve in what has been until now, an exceptionally mild winter. This is 50 birds fewer than the five year average recorded for this time of year. Many birds have remained further east with up to 2,000 feasting on waste crops in Denmark (J. Hansen)!
There are also strong indications that the Northwest European population of Bewick’s Swan has continued to decline since the last co-ordinated census in 2005 which recorded 21,500 birds (J. Beekman). This will be confirmed shortly, when the counts from the 2010 census have been analysed.
Meanwhile, an intriguing story is emerging on the Ouse Washes in Norfolk. We had heard numerous reports of swans arriving on the Norfolk coast from Holland over the weekend and so we were expecting higher numbers to be spotted during the big co-ordinated count this morning. However, only 1,475 Bewick’s were found, 425 birds lower than that recorded during the last count a couple of weeks ago!
The swans usual haunts are iced up at the moment so it is likely that many have snuck away to some ice free reservoirs. Welney's Reserve Warden, Steve Wiltshire, is heading off to search for them later, so we will keep you posted....
