Nature table: Wild Swans

At this time of year two species of wild swan arrive to join our resident mute swans for the winter. Most of our whooper swans come from Iceland and because we are the winter home to about 65% of the world population of this magnificent bird we are extremely important to their conservation.

Not all whooper swans (above) migrate, around a thousand birds remain in Iceland for the winter, congregating around geothermal springs.

The Bewick’s swan is smaller, dumpier and has less yellow on its beak — one writer described the Bewick’s as having a pat of butter on its beak while the whooper has a wedge of cheese. In the 1800s, Bewick’s outnumbered whoopers as Irish winter visitors but today only a handful arrive here from their Siberian breeding grounds — this seems to be a result of climate change and better protection in eastern Europe rather than an overall decline in numbers.