Burscough, Lancashire. 20th December, 2018. Heavily overcst showery day for the 3pm Duck Feed at Martin Mere as Maria, a university student placement, distributes wheat to swans, ducks and geese who have found their way to the nature reserve from foreign climes. The first 800 Whooper swans have made the 500 mile migration from Iceland to spend the winter at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre. Credit: MediaWorldImagea/AlamyLiveNews.
WhooperSwan MM The first 800 Whooper swans have made the 500 mile migration from Iceland to spend the winter at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre. Numbers of Whooper Swans are expected to increase up to 2,000 over the coming months as the swans migrate from Iceland to their temporary home at Martin Mere to escape The Arctic winter, creating an amazing wildlife spectacle. The crossing from Iceland to UK is probably the longest seas crossing undertaken by any swan species. Amazingly in 2009 two swans carrying GPS satellite transmitters completed the journey in just 8 hours at speeds of 55 – 62mph. Swans are powerful fliers and they lose an estimated 25% of their body mass whilst undertaking the migration; many of the juvenile swans may only be 3 and 4 months of age when they make this incredible journey.
Size: 3624px × 2416px
Location: Burscough, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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