Bewick's Swan Numbers show alarming crash

The UK's smallest and rarest swan has suffered an "alarming crash in numbers", the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust has said. The Slimbridge-based charity said more than a third of Bewick's swans have disappeared since 1995, when the total population peaked at 29,000. The latest figures show that, by 2010, there were just 18,000 left.

Scientists believe illegal hunting, power lines and lead poisoning have contributed to the drop in numbers. The charity said it feared the next census, due this winter, would reveal a "further, more worrying decline" in population.

In some winters, the Ouse Washes spanning Norfolk and Cambridgeshire receives 33% of the northwest European Bewick's swan population. Head of UK waterbird conservation Eileen Rees said swans were not producing enough offspring to replace the ones that have died over the year.

"We have two possible solutions - to find out and address what's hampering breeding, and to reduce the number of preventable deaths along their migration route," she added. "We have a plan in place to do both, and much work is underway already, but we need to do it all if we're to change the fortune of our wildest and most beautiful swan."

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust started studying Bewick's swans 50 years ago and it has now recorded in detail the lives of nearly 10,000 individual swans. The charity is currently working on the Bewick's Swan International Action Plan, which aims to stabilise the population.

Bewick's swans breed in the cold Arctic tundra of northern Russia. The western population winters in northern Europe, including the British Isles, while the eastern population heads towards China and Japan for the winter season.

Bewick's are a subspecies of the tundra swan and the smallest swan in Europe.

A Year on Blogger

I cannot let my first anniversary on Blogger pass without a few comments and observations. I reckon my blog is at best, modest. Nevertheless I have published 248 posts that have been viewed 24,456 times. I know that there are bloggers out there who receive far more hits on their sites but I am pleased with this number.

Some interesting statistics (well, interesting to me!):

Of the page reads to date 14,974 have originated from the USA. That's 61% and I am a Brit living in Brighton, England. Thank you American readers for your encouragement. 2,869 page reads come from the United Kingdom, 457 from France, 246 from Russia, 181 from Germany, 153 from China, 149 from Ukraine, 136 from Canada, 115 from Belgium and 64 from the Netherlands, plus sundry others.

Page-views by Browsers is interesting: 74% from surfers using Firefox, 11% using Chrome and only 8% using Internet Explorer and 3% Safari. Many years ago I used Explorer, migrated to Firefox and now use Chrome.

Data on page-views by OS (if you have read this far!) show 82% still using Windows, 11% using Macintosh (I am a Mac user), 2% Linux, 2% Android and 1% iPhone.

So, there you have it. My year on Blogger. Thank you for reading my ramblings; I wouldn't do it without you.

My Seasons Greetings

I started this blog in July 2013. Since then I have received over 11,000 page views. The fact that folk worldwide have found interest in my pages is heartwarming. I am a modest blogger. My original 'theme' centred on birdlife and conservation but has included several hiccups along the way as I have ventured into the dangerous world of politics. Despite this, my readership has continued to bloom. Thank you for that. I continue to be amazed at the geographical spread of those readers who have viewed my posts. Many from the USA, others from my home country and many more from China, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, the Philippines, Ukraine, Ireland, South Africa, the Netherlands and more. The world in which we live, on this great planet Earth, is populated by many diverse peoples and I am thrilled that so many of you have found my blog and taken the time to read my pages. It says to me that multiculturalism is alive and I welcome that.

To every one of you who has visited my blog I would like to wish you an ongoing life of peace and happiness. This season in Europe that we refer to as Christmas has become so over commercialised that I no longer recognise its relevance. I prefer to consider this a time to think about family, to recall the true meaning of Christmas and to enjoy a few days of peace on Earth. If only that could become reality.

To my readers worldwide I send you my heartfelt wishes for a happy Christmas and a New Year that will encompass your dreams...