Bewick's Swan

Bewick’s Swan is arguably one of Britain’s most charismatic birds, and certainly one of the most heavily studied in recent decades. And it has now become the latest to feature in the long and celebrated line of Poyser species monographs.

As with previous titles in the series, this 296-page tome contains every conceivable piece of information regarding its subject. The author, Eileen Rees, is a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust stalwart of almost 30 years’ service and there can be few people better qualified for the task of writing this book.

There are, of course, sections devoted to the Bewick’s Swan research carried out by the WWT at Slimbridge, which was begun by the late Sir Peter Scott and made famous by the realisation that individual swans could be identified by their bill markings. The tracking of swans such as Lancelot, who lived for at least 25 years, helped to publicise Bewick’s Swans and their conservation. The past 40 years have provided fascinating insights into the birds’ lives, annual migration journeys and relationships, with even the odd case of ‘divorce’ noted!

It was interesting to read that the population of Bewick’s Swans wintering in western Europe is at something of a high, and that in the past century the key British wintering areas have shifted south from Scotland and led to the establishment of the internationally significant wintering site in the Ouse Washes. There were no swans wintering there as recently as the late 1930s, but in January 2005 a total of 7,491 was counted.

The book covers much more than the British wintering population of Bewick’s Swans, though, and there are chapters or sections on its numbers and distribution at breeding and wintering sites across the Palearctic. The information on the breeding areas is particularly interesting as they contrast so markedly with the wintering sites. Arctic Foxes and even Polar Bears can be a threat to the birds, while the clouds of mosquitoes are a particular bane for researchers!

The book also deals with migration, feeding, breeding, social behaviour, life history, threats, conservation and swan taxonomy. Rees states that the taxonomy of the Bewick’s and Whistling Swan complex is still unclear. The two are often lumped together and known collectively as ‘Tundra Swan’, but this book deals solely with the Palearctic bewickii and touches only briefly on its relationship with the Nearctic columbianus. That leaves space for the latter to have its own Poyser monograph at some point in the future and, if it’s as good as this volume on its cousin, it will be worth looking forward to.

Tech spec

• Bewick's Swan by Eileen Rees (T & A D Poyser, London, 2006).
• 296 pages, 21 colour photographs, many maps, graphs and line drawings.
• ISBN 0713665599. Hbk, £40.

First published in Birdwatch 172: 52 (October 2006).