One of several small groups on the marshes. Unfortunately we couldn't stay until dusk when the large flocks come in from the surrounding farmland to roost. The slight fuzziness is because the picture was hand-held and taken through the telescope - these birds were about 300m away!
Nice one Colin! Do whoopers have less young in general than the mutes?
Good question! Had to check a good reference for the answer. Our whoopers mainly come from Iceland and the book says they lay clutches of 3-5 eggs. Mute swans lay 5-8. So yes they do have significantly smaller families. Whooper families I've seen rarely have as many as 3 grown young with them so the casualty rate amongst the unfledged cygnets must run at about half, or even higher. Bearing in mind they are nesting in open marshes and bogs and then embark on a thousand-mile migration I guess that's to be expected.
Really lovely!