Wednesday 26 January 2011

Ee bah gum - Where's me swans

Things are still somewhat quiet on the nature front hence a week of no posts.  I am still even waiting for my first moth to turn up in the trap.  I did find the nest site of the local Mistle Thrush the other day, with both birds nest building in the fork of an Ash tree and a pair of Collared Dove will probably be not far behind them as their displaying and singing is at it's peak now.
I had a very quick look at the Riverside Park  the other day. The male Scaup and the female Mandarin are both still present even though the majority of the Tufted Ducks and Goosanders have now left. I was looking specifically for the Mandarin as earlier in the day I saw a female again on Mowbray Park Lake in Sunderland (much easier to find by the way) as I had wondered if it was the same bird commuting but it appears there are 2 females in the area. The Whooper Swan that moved off a couple of weeks ago, you may recall, was rung in North Yorkshire which I discovered when I made a note of the ring number. When I was making inquiries I was asked to make a note of  any Mute Swan rings I saw, which I subsequently did. An email back during the week informed me that all of these birds were also rung in North Yorkshire either at the same or in the general area of where the Whooper was rung. I had wrongly assumed they had been rung locally if not at the park itself,  but it would appear that the Whooper had followed these Mutes north. As the Whooper took off with 20 Mute Swans and went to Brasside it could be that these 20+ birds all came from Yorkshire together. Interestingly, I saw the other day that two of the North Yorkshire rung Mutes are still present in the park. There was a large increase in the swan numbers at the riverside this winter, so I wonder just how many of these are in fact Yorkshire birds?

3 comments:

  1. Those Mistles are at it early.

    Interesting to read about the swans.

    Dont know if you know Linda Charlton?,

    she's the regional rep for Berwick Swan Trust
    http://www.swan-trust.org/about_us.htm
    & does a load of rescue / re-hab work with swans.
    She recounted some life histories to me last time i bumped into her down at Chester - i should imagine she has a load of interesting swan info.

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  2. You always (at least I still tend to) think that the birds on your doorstep are local born & bred birds, but I keep getting surprised at how many are not.
    I may know Linda Charlton by sight but not by name, if it's who I'm thinking off. I need to talk to strangers more, despite what my Mother told me.

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