Wednesday 7 October 2009 - Whooper Swans in North Warwickshire - 07/10/2009

Wednesday 7th October 2009

Whooper Swans in North Warwickshire

This morning I received a text from Pezza Perrins to say that 4 Whooper Swans had been found by John Fincham at Drayton Bassett Pits in Staffordshire.  This is a species that is very rare locally and I was hoping that they would find their way over the border and into Warwickshire eventually.  My prayers were then answered this afternoon when John Harris relaocted them nearby at Shustoke Reservoir.  I managed to get over before dark where all four adult birds (one stained bird) seemed settled in for the evening after their long journey from Iceland or Fennoscandia.

Other birds noted this evening included an escaped Chiloe Wigeon, a female Common Goldeneye, 16 Herring Gulls and 440 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, including a few birds of the race intermedius from Scandinavia.