Whooper Swans are beginning to appear in the skies coinciding with a change in the weather. October is always the wettest month. To me it is always one of the first signs of winter as these swans begin to arrive. I saw three flying west this morning along the Renvyle coast. Large straight-necked, yellow-beaked, white swans flying in a line, a beautiful sight, their wings catching a rare sun-shaft between the showers. They are probably heading to Rusheenduff Lough 1km away.

We get very few Whoopers in Connemara out near the coast. They are a winter visitor to wetlands throughout Ireland from October to April they come from Iceland and northern Sweden and Norway. These birds like to graze on sweet grass and roost by night on lakes. So while we have little of the former we have plenty of the latter. Here, most likely, they revert to a more traditional diet of aquatic vegetation. They are much more common in Mayo where every flooded field seems to attract a handful. The north especially Donegal is the stronghold for these magnificent birds with Lough Swilly, Lough Foyle and Lough Gara (Sligo) supporting up to 2,000 individuals over the winter. These birds are considered globally threatened and are listed in Annex I of the European Union’s Birds Directive.

Photograph: “Whooper Swan RWD2″ by DickDaniels (http://carolinabirds.org/)