Cold weather brings swan fall!
Dipping temperatures encouraged thousands more Bewick’s swans to push on with their migration through Europe over the weekend, triggering a ‘swan fall’ at Slimbridge! Numbers on the reserve jumped from 25 on Friday to 63 today which kept swan researcher Steve Heaven busy as he diligently recorded the new arrivals.
Leho, who is fitted with a transmitter, was one of many who made the most of an icy north-easterly tail wind to help her on her way. She left Hamburg on Friday evening, made a beeline for the Wadden Sea area in the Netherlands on Saturday afternoon before arriving in Norfolk by 9pm! Leho, along with thousands of others, will spend the winter on the Ouse Washes foraging on root crops, grain and pasture.
The first families have now arrived at Slimbridge with nine cygnets now on site. Families often arrive a little later than pairs and singletons as the cygnets are likely to take more time on migration – these youngsters are less than three months old when they embark on a 2,500 mile journey with their parents after all! We were very surprised to see Turlough and Turlach with their four cygnets fly in yesterday (pictured at the top of the page). They first visited Slimbridge together in 2017 but Turlough (ringed 251E) arrived alone last year. Given that swans are generally very faithful to each other and often pair for life, we surmised that Turlach had met some terrible fate. Individuals may lose each other on migration during poor weather or when there is disturbance, although these separations are usually temporary with reunifications happening at wintering sites soon after. Recoupling after such a long time is rather unusual but we are very pleased that they have found each other again!
Dr Julia Newth, Principal Research Officer
