Unexpected arrival of Bewick's Swan....
Utterly unexpected arrival of a single Bewick's Swan today, hot on the heels of Slimbridge's earliest ever Bewick's Swan. The previous earliest record at Martin Mere was on the 19th October 1980. The current cold weather across eastern Europe has undoubtedly brought these birds to the UK, although just like a heavy crop of berries neither bushes or birds can predict the future and you'd be far better asking the Met Office about the probability of a cold winter.
Not just the arrival of the Bewick's Swan today, in fact the first major influx of the bigger Whooper Swan has occurred with at least 112 birds counted on the Mere this afternoon including the first cygnets.
Historically Lancashire had similar numbers of wintering Whooper and Bewick's but since the 1990's the numbers of Bewick's wintering has declined dramatically, from a peak at Martin Mere of 1000 to only one sighting last year. This drop off is primarily as a result of milder winters on continental Europe although the Bewick's Swan numbers across Europe have also declined by a 1/3.
In contrast the Icelandic Whooper Swan counts have seen increases with a recent record count of nearly 2500 on the reserve, although last years milder winter only produced ~ 1500 birds.
The Pink-footed Geese numbers appear to be dropping back with around 10,000 roosting on the reserve, perhaps making it easier to find rarer geese. Today 2 separated Tundra Bean Geese were found, also 2 new Barnacle Geese.
