Bristol Green Party - Letters - Swansong at Slimbridge

Bristol Green Party

Swansong at Slimbridge - Christine Prior, 4 December 2006

To: Evening Post

Dear Sir/Madam

I went to see the Bewick Swans being fed at Slimbridge 5 years ago with my granddaughters. It was one of the most magical things I have ever seen, there were so many swans gliding about on the ponds it was real life Swan Lake and fortunately for us there were only about 15 people in the hut so we could see the feeding and hear about the families of swans that went to the same place in the pond year after year and were actually recognised by the keeper as he fed them. All the more amazing as it can take a team of scientists weeks to find even one pair of swans in their summer feedings grounds on the tundra.

I went last January and it was not a very pleasant experience. The hut was packed out, lots of people had tripods and cameras sticking out all over the place and worst of all there were hardly any swans and we were told that they had not arrived yet.

I heard that the swans were now wintering further north because of climate change and so I contacted Philip Booth of Gloucester Green Party, as Slimbridge is in that area and asked if he could verify what had been said. He quoted Dr Simon Pickering "The number of migratory Bewick Swans and migratory White Fronted Geese wintering at Slimbridge as declined over the last few years .. They are wintering further north in Europe due to the milder winters .. a stark reminder of climate change".

Yours,

Christine Prior