THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER 2008

The undoubted highlight today (apart from a brief RED KNOT seen early morning by Roy Hargreaves) was the arrival on cold NW winds of a trio of adult WHOOPER SWANS - mirroring exactly similar movements in the local area in recent autumns)

WILSTONE RESERVOIR
(with Dave Bilcock)

Three 'new' adult WHOOPER SWANS arrived overnight (following NW winds and much colder temperatures) and joined the two resident adults considered to originate from Wardown Park in Luton. All five birds remained in the 'SW quarter' throughout the day but kept in two distinct groups, the resident pair often resorting to vocal disquiet at their presence. These three new arrivals were part of a widespread arrival of Whooper Swans in Britain, from Ayrshire and Northumberland in the north to Cornwall and Pembrokeshire in the south (and including 82 at Cresswell Pond, Northumberland, and 14 in Yorkshire), and they may well be last year's three wintering Calvert birds returning.

''Initially the three Whooper Swans were in the north quarter and the two 'resident' Whoopers were in the south quarter. Both groups were vocal and at about 8:30 the three flew into the south quarter and joined the two and they all swam round together making a variety of noises. They also flew around as a single group - eventually landing in the north quarter - still making lots of noise. The three seemed to stay as far away from the concrete banks and the Drayton Bank as much as they could and always seemed alert and not feeding in a relaxed manner like the resident birds'' Roy Hargreaves

Also noted on Wilstone were 13 Mute Swans, 9 NORTHERN PINTAILS, 85 EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVERS and 14 Common Snipe.

Three Jackdaws persistently harassed a female Tufted Duck on the central bar, eventually chasing it into the water.

I have reported the continuing reduction in Mute Swan numbers to the Waterways Team as I believe that over 60 of them may have been killed and eaten by poachers. I have interrupted several groups of foreign-speaking East Europeans acting suspiciously after dark in the Wilstone car park, with a trail of white feathers running from the bank, down the steps to the car park. When I confronted them, they claimed that it is legal to kill and eat Mute Swans in their own country.