Whooper

Despite being the type species for the genus Cygnus, Whooper Swans aren't all that common in the UK - in fact this is only the third time I've recorded them in the past seven years, which is as far as my records go back. I do have dozens of photos of them though, because when R and I went to Iceland in February 2018 there was a substantial flock of them on Tjörnin, the lake in the centre of Reykjavik where feeding the wildfowl is a popular local pastime. I've put in one of those old photos here to show a popular local doing just that. She's braver than I would be, standing out on the frozen surface of that lake, but I daresay she knows things about ice that I don't.

Interestingly, it's winter refugees from Iceland that we host in Britain and Ireland - though clearly it's still warm enough in the capital city, and food is so easily found, that metropolitan birds don't feel the need to fly south with their country cousins. The RSPB estimates the UK breeding population of Whoopers at just 28 pairs, with a slight increasing trend, but they believe our winter population is around 16,000 individuals, and that virtually all of these come from Iceland. The Whooper Swan also breeds across Scandinavia and the Caucasus, and those birds winter further south in Europe, down as far as the Mediterranean, but occasionally some are blown over to eastern England.

At first glance the Whooper looks quite a lot like a Bewick's Swan, but when you see the two together (which I was able to do today at Slimbridge) the Whooper is a much bigger bird, with an average wingspan of over 150cm to the Bewick's' 120cm, and an average weight of 9kg, while the Bewick's Swan barely makes 6kg. It has a longer, thicker neck, and the yellow on its bill is more extensive, passing the nostril, and ending in a point. According to Wikipedia it's unusual to see one standing on land like this because their legs can't sustain their weight for long, but Mute Swans are slightly bigger still, and as any resident of Stratford-upon-Avon will tell you, the local Mutes there spend a large amount of their time out on land, grazing the local parkland and mugging tourists for food, and my evidence from Reykjavik is that Whoopers are just as comfortable marching around. So I'm giving that statement the thumbs down.