Floodlit swan feeds
The floodlit swans feeds are particularly good at the moment with water levels creeping up. The birds are now favouring the islands and shallow water nearest the main hide. Details of the floodlit feeds can be found by clicking here.
These feeds are also one of the best times of day to see some of our ringed swans on the reserve. Welney regulars Wimble (FZ6), Aurelie (E4L) and U5D and unnamed female swan and her family are showing the rest what to do of an evening! Sunday night's feed enticed ten ringed swans amongst the hundreds of whoopers and mute swans having their evening snack. One of these swans was Welney resident, Bjork (X3C). Due to the threats that our migratory whooper and Bewick's swans face throughout their flyway (which includes the UK) we do find that some swans pick up injuries or unfortunately these threats prove fatal. Bjork is one of a handful of swans with wing injuries which will mean that she cannot complete the migration any longer and so will stay with us at Welney. Read more about the challenges facing these magnificent birds each year on the swan blog here.
We also recorded a few more whooper swans ringed at Welney in the past; L5C, K6J, L5K and Skyfall (N3E). Two birds ringed at our Martin Mere Wetland Centre were spotted as well; PC6 and PD5.
The swans roost on the reserve but spend much of the day out on the arable land feeding. After a recent swan leg ring reading workshop, we have managed to enlist the help of some volunteer swan spotters who on their first time out managed to count a flock of over 300 swans! Within this flock they identified J57 and his partner Y5C with their one cygnet.
If you see any leg rings on your visits we have a swan ring touchscreen in the main hide to look them up and a sightings board to record them on. Every record is important, so get spotting!
