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 Wild migrating swans.
An event following the lives of wild migrating swans.
STOP PRESS:
BEWICK'S SWAN 'COSTYA' ALIVE!!!
Update: 27th January 2004
He was missing, assumed dead or at least extremely confused. But some unexpected and welcome news this Tuesday, with the return of Costya, the Bewick's Swan, who turned up on the Hundred Foot Washes near Welmey.
You can see a picture of Costya on the right-hand side of this page (under the now outdated headlines 'Wanted'). We hope to get close enough to get some fresh pictures of our returned hero later today, following his epic journey from Norway.
Update: 14th November
Andrei the Bewick has been located. He's "almost paddling around in the North Sea, on the western seaboard of Jutland in Denmark," Julian Hector, head of Natural History Radio at the 91Èȱ¬ told us. "He almost has line-of-sight now to Welney, which is in Cambridgeshire ... so he's almost at the end of his journey."
Meanwhile, Huc the Whooper is still in southern Finland. "We're pretty sure that he's quite close to where he wants to end up ... he'll probably go on to southern Sweden," Julian said.
Update: 7th November
Is the unusual activity on the sun interfering with the equipment used to track the swans, and even perhaps the movement of the birds themseves? For today's update, click on the audio to the right.
Update: 6th November
It's the swan equivalent of 'shirt-sleeve' weatherin Estonia and Finland, and "Huc" the Whooperhas been enjoying the mild temperature snear Helsinki.Click on the link to the right to hear more from ornithologist Stephen Moss, together with the observations of a Dutch swan spotter who has beenscanning the skies this morning.
Update: 5th November
It's been another eventful day for our migrating swans. The tracking system is now picking up just two of the six birds originally tagged: one near Helsinki, and one near the Estonian border. Listen to ornithologist Stephen Moss on why the remaining swans are more reluctant than they could be to journey further south by clicking on the audio link to the right.
Update: 4th November
The swans have encountered a spot of drizzle. To hear more click on audio to the right.
Update: 3rd November
Listen to today's update by clicking on the audio from the 3rd November on the right hand column of this page.
Update: 1st November
All this week on Radio 4, you can follow a special project to track the migration routes of a group of swans from the Russian arctic back to Britain. Until now, there has been no reliable information about where the swans travelled to in the winter.
One of the Bewick swans being tracked on its migration route has gone missing, presumed shot, on the Russian / Estonian border.
The swans are protected in all the countries along the line of their route, but after analysing data from the satellite tag of the missing swans, scientists working on the project now believe that the missing swan has probably been shot. Often swans of this type arriving in the UK are found to contain lead shot.
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Project details
In August, members of the 91Èȱ¬ Natural History Unit along with scientists from Russia, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and Bristol University travelled to Arctic Russia to catch and attach special satellite transmitters to migratory wild swans. The one whooper and three Bewick’s swans tagged are now being observed by scientists (and Radio 4 online users) as they slowly make their way back to Western Europe, and possibly the UK.
This work has never been done before, and those involved believe that studying the swan’s precise journey home will yield vital information about their route, resting places and ultimately their conservation.
Unusually, a whooper swan has been tagged. Huc, as he is called because of his identification ring, is a mysterious creature, because it is unknown as to when, or where he will migrate. As long as he survives to make his flight, the information gathered from his satellite tag will be totally new to science.
The migration can already be followed via Radio 4 online, and beginning the 3rd of November, Radio 4 listeners will be able to follow the live migration of these swans by listening to the Today programme and picking updates from the many features being broadcast on Radio 4 between 3rd and 9th November.
 Back to Reports 91Èȱ¬page
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