Whooper Swan: These elegant and well travelled swans come to the UK in their thousands to spend the winter here; they arrive from Iceland in late autumn, returning north again in the spring. Their breeding range, extending from Iceland and northern Scandinavia in the west to the Pacific coast of Russia in the east.
This individual has decided to stay put this summer and not return to its breeding range, but instead take up residence with the local mute swan at Spike island in Widnes!
Whooper's show obvious individual bill variations, their black and yellow patterns on the bill are almost like individual fingerprint in humans with each bird having a different pattern. The extent of the yellow and black on the bill can also tell you which population they belong to with the Icelandic population wintering in England having more black than has been found on the bills of the eastern Siberian population wintering in Japan.
The bird seems right at home, totally habituated to the slobbering unleashed dogs that are allowed to run straight in the resting flock and making the most of the free food given to them by children and families who have come fo feed the ducks.
Whooper swans have a distinctive upright posture in comparison with the its cousins the Bewick’s and mute swans, with a slight kink at the base of the neck and a relatively long neck to overall body length.
The yellow bill really stood out among the orange bills of the resident mute swans.
Let's hope that it eventually moves on and finds its own kind and takes on the mammoth journeys whooper swans regularly take up north.
