The Divorcee
Swan Lake was humming with life this morning with the throng of tired new arrivals as they crowded in to make the most of the supplementary grain feed. Over the last week, 36 new swans have completed their 2,500 mile journey and arrived at Slimbridge, pushing the total count up to 82 yesterday!
We are especially pleased to welcome back our “divorcee” Sarindi! Five years ago, Sarindi appeared to separate from his partner at the time, Saruni. Having been an item for several years, you can imagine our surprise when both birds arrived at Slimbridge....with different mates! The two new pairs (Sarindi with Sarind and Saruni with Sarune) have co-existed at Slimbridge every winter since, although they have very little to do with each other these days. This unusual event was only the second time in 50 years of WWT’s research involving the study of 4,000 swan pairs, that a ‘divorce’ had been recorded at Slimbridge!
We have been identifying Slimbridge visiting Bewick’s swans, by recording their distinctive black and yellow bill patterns, every winter since 1964. Over the years we have gained an extraordinary understanding into the lives of these birds, but the study of their social dynamics have perhaps revealed the most fascinating insights... We have discovered that Bewick’s swans have famously strong loyalties to one another, and usually mate for life, although will re-pair if their partner dies. The longest partnership ever recorded was between Limonia and Laburnum who stayed together for 21 years! Grounds for Sarindi and Sarunis divorce remain unclear although such an unusual event may be connected to a lack of breeding success.
