With winter weather now settling in, it seems timely to summarise who is where for the Super Whoopers and the other satellite-tagged swans. Five have returned to WWT Martin Mere so far. The first to arrive was Super Whooper Sigrunn (ringed LP7), seen with his unringed mate and 2 cygnets by Dave and Estelle Walsh and Kane Brides on the morning of 5th November. He was joined by Drangey (NA3) without his mate but with 5 cygnets in tow, also on 5th November. Drangey was expected to continue on to Welney but was still in residence at Martin Mere a few days ago. The third tagged swan to arrive at Martin Mere, on 7th November, was U7L who had its transmitter removed whilst heading north through Caerlaverock last spring. Swan V3Z arrived on 26th November without his transmitter, and most recently Feathers (K5S) arrived with transmitter in place but without the antenna.

Two tagged swans, Supersonic Bill and K9H, have also returned to WWT Caerlaverock, and others are known to be elsewhere in Scotland (Jaleel, BV5, U5U and U7X) or Ireland (Y5T and Y6K). Several tags stopped moving during the summer and autumn months, possibly because the swan died (thought to be the case for V4C) or more likely shed its transmitter (Sky, Sherdley, Lars, J4U, J9V, K6K and X3D). A few birds are known to be still in Iceland. Rocky (K93) was seen by Hrafn Agustsson on the sea at Gardabaer, Iceland, with 12 other whoopers on 10th December. Snow Cloud’s tag showed that he was at Lake Myvatn on 2nd December, one of relatively few Icelandic wintering sites for whooper swans, before heading to southeast Iceland on 10th December. The tag for swan V5N was retrieved at Djúpifjörður, Iceland by Böðvar Þórisson in November. There was no sign of the swan and the harness had been chewed through, so it seems likely that he ditched his tag.

Tags have also been retrieved from Baldur and Tonverk, as reported in previous blogs, so future information will be based on ring re-sightings for these individuals, with Baldur known to have reached Welney by 19th November. Fixes from the other satellite-tagged swans showed that the birds were still moving around in Iceland in November but that battery power was failing. We’re hoping that these tags will start transmitting again and reveal the swans’ locations during the course of the winter.