WILDLIFE WHOOPER

Whooper trooper Each year 4,000 whooper swans – the which inspired Tchaikovsky’s Lake and is deified in – travel from to winter on Scottish

WORDS POLLY PULLAR

t has been raining for days and the farmers We estimate there are more than 500 whoop- are in despair. The stubble fields which ers, with a few mute swans joining the melee. I dominate the landscape now resemble great They are shy and wary, and every now and then sheets of water punctuated with dots as mallard take to the air with a great rhythmic explosion and other waterfowl are taking advantage. of wings. My son Freddy rings to tell me that from the The haunting calls of whooper swans in flight window of his home near Auchterarder he can is one of the most beautiful sounds in the natural see an army of swans amid the rising floodwa- world. Evocative and melancholy, they symbol- ter, their whiteness shining through the dull ise desolate landscapes; for this reason, many monotones of a winter dawn. He’s never seen refer to the whooper as the truly ‘wild’ swan. so many – it sounds a spectacular sight. I remember a wildlife encounter at ’s Freddy has been down to the swollen river- windswept Machir Bay some years ago. I was banks trying to get closer, and thinks that standing near the ruin of Kilchoman church these are whoopers. It’s unusual to see quite on the island’s west side. Close by an ancient so many in this particular area so an expe- Celtic cross grizzled with lichen was a silhou- dition is hastily planned and together with ette. The sound of a fanfare drew gradually nature writer Jim Crumley, we set forth for a nearer. From out of the mist a flock of whooper ‘The swan outing. swans emerged, light illuminating the whir- haunting calls Getting close is hard, but we wend our way ring of great wings. I was momentarily dazzled of whooper swans in through a maze of water, and a flotsam of by their sheer brilliance, the crispness of the flight is one of the most fallen timber and scrub that drifts slowly down sound cutting through the silence; their calls the River Earn. As we crash through lacerat- fading as the travelled on out to sea. beautiful sounds’ ing snares of brambles, twittering flocks of As the days shorten and summer migrants goldfinches and chaffinches burst from high have long headed south, these majestic spec- hedgerows. We briefly glimpse the swans tres from boreal regions begin their descent through our binoculars; bends in the river on Scotland. Sometimes as early as the end of reveal dozens, and hundreds more are gath- September, groups of whooper swans return ered on the stubbles where they glean and from Iceland to over-winter on our freshwater preen, their long necks outstretched and their lochs, marshes, and tidal mudflats. plumage white against the pewter-coloured The first to arrive are often the non-breed- winter’s morning. ers, but soon small family groups begin

Image: As early as September whooper swans begin to descend upon Scotland. TERO HAKALA/SHUTTERSTOCK

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Over 4,000 whoopers overwinter in Scotland and are usually faithful to the same winter- ing sites, many of which are Special Protection Areas or estuaries around the coastline. Large numbers winter at Caerlaverock on the Solway near Dumfries, on Islay and on Loch Bee in South Uist, as well as elsewhere in the Hebrides. Loch Leven, and Insh Marshes are also excellent places to see whoopers, although their move- ments can be erratic and they may arrive and feed for only a few days before moving on. By mid-April they have left for the north. Whooper swans mate for life but rarely breed in Scotland, although injured pairs unable to migrate have sometimes successfully reared cygnets and there are a few records of whoop- ers hybridising with mute swans, though their progeny don’t usually fare well. With changes in agricultural policies, stubble fields are not the rich feeding grounds they once were, the more efficient machinery meaning few gleanings remain. However, in recent years swans have benefited from oil seed rape, and also brock potatoes left after harvest. The top dressing of grain led to high mortalities amongst wildfowl, while pesticides and other agricultural chemicals do little to enhance the environment for the whooper swan. Many swans are killed each year as they fly into lines and wires, though much is being done to mini- mise this problem. Post mortems carried out on swans picked the same storm-bound pelagic peregrina- of Winter, and it has long been held in high ‘The up from under lines are often found to contain tions back to Scotland. They normally fly esteem. Archaeologists found an ancient tomb large amounts of lead shot. It seems that though Japanese call just above the sea and may land to rest on with the remains of a baby enwrapped in a it is illegal to shoot swans here, they are often the water during their flight. However some swan’s wing – a poignant image that indicates the whooper targeted further north; increasingly it is becom- whoopers have been recorded flying at a swans were perhaps seen as guides and protec- ing harder for both whooper and Bewick’s the Angel of height of over 8,000 metres (26,000 feet) tors to the spirit world. The whooper swan is swans to sustain healthy numbers. and with a ground speed of 86 miles an hour. common in Russia and is believed to be the Winter’ The expression a ‘swan song’ to describe a - With temperatures well below -40 degrees at bird that inspired Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet, final act is still widely used, and originates from heights just short of the summit of Mount Swan Lake. the idea that swans sing an eerie lament prior to Everest, and oxygen in short supply, it is an The smaller but similar Bewick’s, or Tundra, their deaths. Indeed many witnesses claim to extraordinary feat. It is thought that flying at swan, from the High Arctic and Russia, is a Top left: Last year less 1964 the great ornithologist and artist Sir Peter have heard this. A whooper swan brought to me such unusual altitude minimises turbulence. rare winter visitor to Scotland. Naturalist and than 15 whooper swans Scott, founder of the Wildfowl and Wetlands following a collision with power lines lingered Also sometimes referred to as the whistling author William Yarrel named it in honour bred in the UK. Top right: Trust, discovered that every Bewick’s swan on for a few days despite my medical ministra- swan, the whooper is easily distinguished from of the famous engraver and author Thomas Whoopers are larger and had a unique bill pattern, and by mapping tions. When it expired it did indeed utter an the that remains in the British Isles Bewick. On occasions there may be one or have more yellow on their each individually, birds could be followed extraordinary sound as its last strangled gasps all year round. From a distance it is smaller, two Bewick’s swans among a larger group of bills than the Bewick’s swan. Above: A pair of over many years. This began one of the longest forced air through its extra long trachea; this is has a longer neck, and a yellow bill splashed whoopers, though from a distance it takes a whooper swans take flight. running avian studies anywhere, one which now widely accepted as the fabled swan song. with black. The mute swan’s bill is orange, and keen eye to distinguish the two species. still continues at the Wildfowl and Wetlands It’s less romantic than stories of a pre-death it has a far heavier, more cumbersome silhou- The Bewick’s swan’s bill is more black than Trust’s Slimbridge reserve in Gloucestershire lament, yet it’s still a sound that sends a frisson ette. The Japanese call the whooper the Angel yellow, with only a small area of yellow. In SUK, MIRKO GRAUL/SHUTTERSTOCK each winter. through the listener. MOMENT NATURES CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT - MARK MEDCALF,

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