Wigeon – 2953
Mallard – 887
Teal – 561
Pochard – 174
Pintail – 107
Shoveler – 50
Gadwall – 22
Great crested grebe – 9
Black-tailed godwit – 245
Lapwing – 32
Golden plover – 22
Curlew – 12
Snipe – 12
Redshank – 2
Marsh harrier – 2
Buzzard – 2
Fieldfare – 350
Welney regular Baldur (U5B), his mate U5S, and last year's brood of 7 cygnets. David Featherbe
See some feathery favourites at the floodlit swan feeds such as Baldur, Wimble and Toby Two! As well as catching up with our Welney hatched whooper ,‘Junior’, along with parents Romeo and Julietta.
Thousands of wintering swans will be preparing for their spring migrations by catching a feed at WWT Welney. Spectacular evening floodlit feeds at 6.30pm (Thurs-Sun) as well
as daily 12noon and 3.30pm feeds, offer chances to get close to these amazing birds. Some of which are well know to staff at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) at Welney.
This winter there have been plenty of familiar faces amongst the swans including Toby Two, ringed at Welney in 2008 and Wimble who was ringed in Iceland in 2000. Amongst these individual swans there are whole family groups jostling for a place at the feeds including Baldur and his mate with this year’s brood of five cygnets. As well as the whooper pair Romeo and Julietta and their Welney hatched cygnet, ‘Junior’, who has been mixing with the migratory swans at the feeds. A question that we all would like the answer to is will this cygnet take to the skies this spring and follow the migration to Iceland – its
first ever migration!
Samantha Lee, Public Engagement Officer at Welney comments on the half term activities on offer next week. ‘The swan feeds are a really unique experience and in this cold weather, with the birds brought closer to the hides you really don’t need specialist equipment to be able to enjoy them. It’s incredible to see swans returning to Welney each winter and to get to know some of the birds really well is a privilege.’
‘During half term there is also the chance to learn more about our winter migrants with our discovery trail out on the reserve. Or if visitors need to take a break from the cold and warm up in the visitor centre there will be led sessions on how to make fat-feeders for garden birds from 1.45-2.45pm with activity stations available throughout the day.’
The Ouse washes wetlands site at Welney is the UK’s largest winter roosting site for whooper and Bewick’s swans. Add to this, thousands of wintering duck and you have one of the best winter wildlife spectacles in the UK right on the doorstep. The swan feeds are a great way to learn about these fantastic birds and the amazing migrations they undertake to get to the UK each year.
For more information on the swan feeds and other activities at WWT Welney call the centre on 01353 860711, go to our events page or follow us on twitter @WWTWelney.
Farming and wildlife likely to come into conflict as limited water directed to domestic supply
Nature experts warn that this summer could be the worst for wildlife in over 30 years if the current period of low rainfall continues.
Rainfall has been so low that in many areas the level of moisture in the soil is currently worse than in 1976, when the UK suffered one of the most severe droughts on record[i].
Flock of grazing wigeon by James Lees
All creatures need water to survive and reports from around the UK indicate wildlife is already being affected. As WWT’s Welney Wetland Centre in Norfolk is located in one of the worst affected areas by the drought, there has not been enough rainfall to flood the grassland habitats, which has meant less food for grazing ducks such as wigeon.
But even through these worrying times, there have been both positive and negative effects on wildlife. Usually one of the biggest problems to the Ouse Washes is too much water (at the wrong times) leading to the inundation of breeding wader habitat and the loss of chicks. Last year this didn’t happen and we had fairly good breeding success this summer. The winter levels on the washes are also not too bad because they are being maintained by tidal influence. However, the areas of wet grassland further away from the river channels are very dry and we simply do not have enough water to keep them wet, this is affecting the numbers of wintering wildfowl such as wigeon.
Although water supply to most homes may not be affected as water companies have measures in place to collect and store enough water for domestic supply, this comes at the expense of the countryside. Farming is already under pressure to produce crops with an uncertain water supply. If supplies dwindle as predicted this summer, the conflict is likely to be pitched as farming vs. wildlife when really both are victims of the way water is used
and managed.
WWT’s Head of Wetland Conservation, Rob Shore, has been hearing reports from WWT’s wetland reserves around the country. He said:
“We haven’t yet had the dreaded hosepipe ban warnings but wildlife is the proverbial canary in the cage. We want government to tackle this problem before it gets out of hand – not just relieving the problem this year but by putting plans in place to prevent this happening again.”
“We have the technical solutions and have identified regulation, from farming subsidies to water company regulation, which could be tweaked to keep more water on the land to help wildlife and farmers. Ultimately it will benefit all of us as consumers.”
One solution being proposed is to create lots of small wetland areas to capture rainwater when it does fall. By slowing the flow of water off the land these allow more water to percolate into soils and aquifers. The added benefit is that they prevent soil, nutrients and other pollutants from being washed into our rivers, which in turn reduces the costs of water treatment.
Rob Shore continued: “We’re struggling to keep our wetlands wet in winter which is virtually unheard of. The knock on effect will be on the birds breeding in spring, so it is easy to see how quickly this can escalate. What we are proposing are small but sensible changes, which bring very tangible benefits for all of us.”
Despite some recent rain, the majority of river systems in England or Wales are currently flowing at below average levels and many are critically low[ii]. The situation is even worse for our groundwater supplies, which have not been replenished over the autumn and winter.
Rain has generally fallen in short, heavy bursts and run straight off the dry, compacted land and very quickly ended up in the sea. This is already raising the threat of flooding at the same time as drought. Climate change is predicted to bring heavier and less frequent rain making this a more common occurrence.
[i]
Environment Agency weekly water situation report Wednesday 18 – Tuesday 24
January 2012 http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/WE_240112.pdf
[ii]
Environment Agency weekly water situation report Wednesday 18 – Tuesday 24
January 2012 http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/WE_240112.pdf
Right guys, HELLO!!
My first post from Caerlaverock so here goes….right migration…
Well where to start!
The Barnacle Geese numbers here have been growing over the last few weeks with numbers on the reserve reaching a high of 13,800. I know your all thinking “how do you count all them” well simple…. you take them in 10′s. You then carefully work your way around as many fields as you can until the all fly and you curse loudly (but not in public 
), and then start counting all over again.
Numbers on a daily basis remain around 8,000 with lots of the birds feeding in fields just of the reserve throughout the day but then, come dusk, the big flight begins as they all head back onto the salt marsh to roost for the night. I would really recommend coming on one of our early morning or late night flights just to experience it!!
I’m sure you are all also wondering about our Whooper Swans – well they are being a bit of a pain in the bum at the moment to be honest.
Around the local area there are quite a few stubble fields and with the rush to get the crop cut in the short window of nice weather we had up here in bonny Scotland, a lot of grain was spilt. This has led to the Whooper Swans only roosting here on the Folly Pond overnight and then heading off to the nearby stubble fields to fill up on lovely grain and not our grain we throw out for them at feed times.
I do think shortly though our birds will start coming in for the feeds. On a recent count of the local area Whooper Swan numbers were around 160, so we still have more to arrive.
The other wildfowl here at Caerlaverock are building up their numbers nicely.
Wigeon numbers are almost past 1000 here and Teal numbers are at around 1200. All these birds are spread all over our reserve with some of the best viewing to be had on the Folly Pond, Flood Ground and Newfield Hide.
We do however, expect though some little American visitors again this winter. Almost annually we have American Green-winged Teal which looks similar to the Common Teal however, it is distinguished from drake Common Teals by having a vertical white stripe along up the breast and not the horizontal white stripe which Common Teal show.
The waders here at Caerlaverock are also starting to build. We are so lucky to have the Solway on our doorstep and come high tide you can expect to see thousand, and I really mean thousands, of waders lifting off the mud as it gets covered over by the tide.
Over the coming months you can expect to see up to 30,000 Dunlin, 10,000 Knot, 10,000 Oystercatchers not to mention Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover and Curlew. Who wouldn’t want to see that!!?
With all the birds coming in you can sometimes forget about the birds still with us. We still have Swallow, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff here at Caerlaverock all of which really should be heading south by now and only last week we have a House Martin drifting about.
For now I will leave you in peace but keep reading and will try and let you know what’s changing here at Caerlaverock.
Mike
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