This week saw the arrival of a huge group of Whooper Swans to the tarn at RSPB Geltsdale. A vast flock of 26 individuals were afloat on the water on Monday morning (March 20th), much to the consternation of our resident pair of Mute Swans. This week we are profiling the three types of swans seen on UK waterways: Whooper, Bewick’s and Mute Swans.
Whooper Swans:
The Whooper Swan is large and white, bigger than the Bewick’s Swan, which is also often seen in groups on UK waters. They measure between 140 and 160 cm in length (beak to tail), with a wingspan of 205 to 235 cm, and weigh between 9 and 11 kg. Adult Whooper Swans have a thin, long neck, which they usually hold erect, black legs and a black bill with a large, triangular, yellow patch on it. Juveniles, meanwhile, are grey and white. They also have black legs, but their beak is black and red, lacking the adults’ yellow triangle.
Whoopers mainly visit the UK from Iceland in winter, though a small number of pairs nest in the north of the UK and remain all year round. When they migrate to the UK, they land on estuaries and wetlands, feeding on aquatic plants, grass, grain and potatoes. They are recognisable by their loud, honking call, which sounds like a car horn.
Bewick’s Swans:
Like Whooper Swans, Bewick’s Swans migrate to the UK in large groups in winter, but they come from Siberia, rather than Iceland and are much less common than both Mute and Whooper Swans (they are on the UK Red List for Birds of Conservation Concern). Bewick’s Swans also have yellow and black bills, but, while the Whooper Swan’s bill forms a pointed V shape on either side, Bewick’s Swans have more oval, rounded yellow patches on either side of their bills.
Another way to tell the difference between Whooper and Bewick’s Swans is that Bewick’s Swansare much smaller – they are the smallest swan species to visit the UK in fact, not much bigger than a Canada Goose. They measure between 115 and 125 cm in length, with a wingspan of 170 to 195 cm, and weigh just under 6 kg on average. Bewick’s also have a sharp, barking call, which sounds like an excited dog, distinctly different from the Whooper Swans’ loud, honking call.
Adult Bewick’s Swans are white all over, while juveniles are greyish with a pink, brown or red bill, lacking the yellow of the adults’ bills. In the UK, Bewick’s Swans feed in fields on leftover potatoes and grain, while on their breeding grounds they eat aquatic plants and grass.
Mute Swans:
The Mute Swan is very large, measuring 140 to 160 cm in length, with a wingspan of 208 to 238 cm, and weighing 10 to 12 kg on average. Adults have a long, S-shaped neck and an orange bill with a black base and black knob, and fly with their neck extended and regular, slow wingbeats, much slower than the Bewick’s Swan’s rapid wingbeats. Juveniles are brown, grey and white, with black or brown bills.
Mute Swans are usually seen in pairs in the UK, rather than in large groups. Most birds stay in their territories all year, though some move short distances and form winter flocks. Some birds also migrate to eastern England from Europe in cold, winter weather.
As well as their appearance, a key way to tell a Mute Swan apart from a Bewick’s or Whooper Swan, is that they do not make loud flight call. They are not, in fact, ‘mute’, as they do make grunts and hisses, and during the breeding season will make short, loud snorts. Female Mute Swans will also call to their broods of cygnets and cygnets will whistle when preening or feeding and peep noisily when distressed or lost.
The UK population of Mute Swans has increased recently, possibly due to better protection of the species. Lead poisoning, which was a problem on lowland rivers, has largely been resolved due to a ban on the same of lead fishing weights. Mute Swans are found on farmland, grassland, and wetland, as well as in urban and suburban areas, and feed on water plants, insects and snails.