Swan numbers building
Whooper swan numbers are building on the Ouse Washes with over 800 swans this morning counted at our Swan's awake event. These events are a fantastic chance to see the reserve in the early morning as the swans are waking up on the washes, the next dates are Sat 1 & Sun 2 November, click here for more details.
We are now also seeing some of our ringed swans returning to us for the winter. At yesterdays 3.30pm swan feed we saw Welney regular Wimble (FZ6) with her mate. Wimble was ringed in Iceland in 2000 as an adult so she is at least 16 years old and has been seen at Welney many times over the years. At this morning's event we had a pair with 3 cgynets and managed to spot the leg ring on one parent. This was U5D, ringed at Welney in 2008, but not seen since 2009. We also had a swan with a red leg ring, BLD named Swanhilde. She was ringed at Martin mere in 2012 and has visited Welney before.
We will try to bring you more news of our ringed swans throughout the winter but as always, many eyes are better than a few. So if you are visiting us over the winter do scan the swan legs for rings either with your binoculars or scope; or use the scope in the main observatory. You can look your swan ring up straight away on our swan touch screen, also in the main hide but please let us know of those you manage to spot so we can update our records.
