It was 1030 am when I arrived at Welney WWT, but you could easily have thought it was 1030pm. It was dark,cold,windy and heavy rain. However the welcome from the staff was warm and a hot cup of tea soon sorted me out.
At 12 noon they feed the wild swans, so I had time to visit a few hides before then. From one hide a marsh harrier was hunting.
I assumed that it had seen something as it stayed in the area for a while.
It was using the wind to stay in a similar place. However it did not dive into the reeds, so whatever it had spotted must have gone.
Time to go to the main observatory for the swan feed. Lots of ducks were already there.
a family of mute swans swam closer
a lapwing landed on one of the islands
Then it was feeding time. The man doing the feeding was whistling to the swans.
I tried to identify some of the whooper swans by their beak patterns, but they spent a lot of time with their heads in the water.
a lot of black tailed godwits were present, but they were never close to the hide.
when the marsh harrier came near they took to the sky
Shortly after the feeding had ended, the rain started again, so it was time to drive home. On my way back to the A1, I passed several fields where there were lots of swans. However I was in a line of traffic and there was no where to stop and scan them to look for Bewick's swans.
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