These six beauties arrived at Hayle mid-morning on 14th October and after a short feed, promptly fell asleep. Having just flown in from Iceland and having already undertaken a circuit of west Cornwall (they were seen flying SE out to sea at Marazion two hours earlier), they were probably in need of a rest. Whooper Swans are never common here so if you are passing by stop off in our (free) car park at Ryan’s Field and walk up to the Hayle Causeway. Other than a couple of Mute Swans on the main estuary, there aren’t any other “confusion species” so they should be easy to see if they decide to stay. If only all birds were as big and easy to sort out – see our blog on the Snipe at Marazion Marsh later in the day which we all failed to identify in spite of prolonged good views and photographs to boot!

By David Flumm