Eileen's on the move!
The hollars of “come on Eileen” have worked! Following a bit of a slow start, Eileen has made the great leap from Estonia to Denmark! And judging by this week’s weather forecast marked by north-easterly winds, it is likely that Hope (currently in Estonia) and Lech (in Poland) will be hot on Eileen’s heels.
Thousands of Bewick’s swans in eastern Europe have been waiting for these north-easterly winds to press ahead with their journey to the Netherlands and Britain. So far, this mild autumn has been characterised by south-westerly winds which have not favoured their westerly migration and many have spent longer periods that usual further east.
Eileen and Hope’s migration tracks have illustrated this ‘weather-effect’ particularly well – at the beginning of November, both were still on Lake Ladoga in Russia at a time when we would be expecting them to be making progress through Northwest Europe. There is now undoubtedly a ‘back-log’ of swans ready to push ahead to Britain and as the winds swing around more favourably, we may see quite a few white-feathered visitors completing the final leg of their journeys and dropping into the safe-havens of Slimbridge and Welney this week......
