Fans of the Super Whooper Sigrunn now need to check for a different ring number when looking for him at WWT Martin Mere. He was one of 78 Whooper Swans caught at the centre yesterday (10th February), where the birds were ringed, weighed and measured before being released back onto the Mere. We thought in late January that Sigrunn had succeeded in ditching his transmitter and this observation is now been confirmed. His old ring (LP7) was found to be cracked so this was removed. A newly fitted ring, X4H, will be used to identify him in future years.

Feathers (K5S) was caught at the same time and had his transmitter removed. He succeeded in pulling out the aerial in the autumn, so we’ve not been able to track him (except by ring reading) during his time at Martin Mere this winter. The last transmission from the tag put Feathers on the north coast of Iceland back in September 2009.

A third transmitter swan – K9H – was caught in the Caerlaverock swan catch the previous day (9th February) with 70 other Whoopers. He looked to be in great shape and, like Sigrunn and Feathers, his plumage was in mint condition. The housing holding the transmitter was damaged, however, so his tag also was removed.