Flight of the Swan

 A beautiful Bewick flying in during the late afternoon sunshine. An awesome sight to see as they are small and gutsy, friendly and social and I just love them. 

Each bill for each swan is different and they are named by this easy recognition. They mate for life, mourn the death of a partner, have big extended family groups which consist of parents, offspring, siblings and grandchildren all of whom soft honk in greeting when they meet up. Lovely to see.

They fly 3,500 km on their migratory route from the breeding grounds in Russia  to the wintering sites here and are illegally hunted on the way which has meant a catastrophic fall in numbers. Some have been GPS tracking which is providing huge amounts of  information for conservationists.