East Anglia is about to welcome a great wildlife spectacle
This year winter may start all of a sudden, with a deluge of swans.
As weather conditions turn, any day now we can expect to see swans arriving in the UK at wetlands such as WWT Welney Wetland Centre. Bewick’s swans flying 2,500 miles from Arctic Russia in the North-east and whooper swans flying 1,200 miles from Iceland in the North will be touching down in increasing numbers.
Each year up to 3,000 Bewick’s swans and 6,000 whooper swans arrive in East Anglia to spend the winter months on the wetlands of the Ouse washes, making it the most important wintering area for these swans in North West Europe. Add to this the tens of thousands of ducks that also arrive and you have one of the best wildlife spectacles in the UK.
At present the first group of 50 Bewick’s swans have made it as close as Lake Lauwersmeer in the Netherlands. So they are only 400 miles away as the swan flies and the next stop for many will be WWT Welney!
The Fens are an important wintering site to the swans and ducks due to the combination of safe roosting sites on the wetlands and plentiful food available in the fields after the harvesting. Particular favourites are spilt grain, sugar beet tops and rotten potatoes – the squishier the better!
Steve Wiltshire, Warden for WWT Welney Wetland Centre, says:
‘Each year we anticipate the arrival of autumn with the first swans completing their migrations’
‘These birds travel incredible distances to escape the colder winters of the northern regions to take refuge within the UK’
‘There are fewer sights that can rival the swans and ducks gathering at WWT Welney from now until winter. When conditions are just right it can be like Heathrow airport on the main lagoon with swans gliding down onto the water’.
Visitors can learn more about the swans and ducks with events like the swan feeds where a live commentary accompanies the feeding of the birds from the famous Welney wheelbarrow. Daily 3.30pm feeds start from Saturday 26 October. But if you can’t wait until then WWT Welney Wetland Centre is open every day 9.30am – 5pm to give visitors the opportunity to watch the swans as they arrive on the reserve.
If you want to learn more about the amazing migrations of the swans and ducks and how to recognise the different species, click on the following events at WWT Welney Wetland Centre to help you make the most of these winter visitors (events are included in the normal admission price unless otherwise stated):
Wildfowl walks, 1-2pm every Monday, Thursday and Saturday until 24 October
Winter wild swan feeds, 3.30pm daily from Saturday 26 October
Swan’s awake, 6.15-9am Saturday 26 October & Saturday 30 November (£12 per person, extra charge for optional breakfast)
Floodlit evening swan feeds, 6.30pm every Thursday – Sunday from Friday 1 November
