Читать книгу The Times A Year in Nature Notes - Derwent May - Страница 86

WHOOPER SWANS ARE on their way back to Iceland. Their black-and-yellow beaks distinguish these magnificent birds from our resident mute swans, which have orange beaks. Whoopers also fly with a swishing sound, rather than the deep throbbing of the mute swan’s wings. They winter here on lochs and estuaries, but just now they are turning up on many other stretches of water, as they rest on their northward passage.

The other wintering swans are the small Bewick’s swans, many of which stay on the wide watery spaces of the Ouse Washes. They will soon be returning in family flocks to the Siberian tundra. They were named in honour of the great 18th-century engraver, Thomas Bewick. An attempt was recently made to rename them ‘tundra swans’, but this name has been abandoned again since no one would use it.

While the buds have opened on some horse chestnut trees, others are still quite wintry-looking. The most advanced trees are showing little parachutes of unfolding green leaves. Once all the leaves are out, the trees will have a majestic dome of foliage, which the flower spikes will quickly cover with white blossom.