An unusual story about our swans
Over the winter at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre we get lots of fantastic stories about the incredible journeys of our Whooper swans that visit us over the winter, but few as unique as the following story.
Over the summer, our Species Monitoring Assistant, Kane Brides spent time in Iceland monitoring and researching Whooper swans and Pink-footed geese on their breeding grounds. During this time a family of 5 swans were ringed at Engivtn in northern Iceland on 4 August: BZS, BZL, BZN, BZP plus the parents BZJ and Y9S (pictured with Kane).
Whats interesting is that BZJ and Y9S has recently escaped the cold weather and arrived at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre with just 3 cygnets with them (BZL, BZN & BZP) and we had sadly assumed that the 4th cygnet had died during the migration. The family of swans was spotted by John Attwood and Kate Spencer during their visit. However, news came in last week that a cygnet was seen in Ireland on 27 December, unusually staying on the fringes of the flock. George McDermott contacted WWT and we were astounded to see that this young swan was BZS; he has been left behind in Ireland which is extremely rare to hear of. He will be staying away from the flock with having no family to back him up if disputes occur but it is great to hear that he is alive, albeit alone.
Researchers are now keeping an eye out to see if BZS makes his way to Martin Mere and is re-united with his family this winter. This unusual and fascinating story is just one of the many stories you can hear all winter at WWT Martin Mere. There are a number of birds with detailed histories and you can look for these birds during the daily swan feeds at 3pm and 3.30pm.
