Whooper Swan

Last week, the first 500 Whooper Swans arrived from Iceland to spend the winter at the WWT centre at Martin Mere in Lancashire.
These birds are the first of up to 2000 Whoopers which are expected to take up residency at the site.
Thousands more of these beautiful Swans will settle at other sites on the coastline of North West England  and many other locations around the UK.                                                           

 I love this time of the year when Migrant species leave the harsh environments of the far north of Europe and lower Arctic to descend on our 'warmer' shores.
Other notable species that arrive in Britain in great numbers to escape the bleak conditions include Pink Footed Geese and on a good year Waxwings.

I fully recommend a visit to Martin Mere at this time of year because the scene played out by the masses of Whoopers is nothing short of spectacular and there probably isn't a better place in the UK to get close up views of the birds before they make the long flight back to Iceland around March.