Welney news
Water rail winter viewings
Water rail by Ray Mathias Easier to spot in cold weather, the secretive water rail has been out on show this week. These brilliant views were from the North Wing Hide (luckily this is right next to our heated hide).
27 January 2017
Glaucous gull - winter visitor
Glaucous gull by Ray Mathias When the marsh harrier is away, the gull.....gets its lunch? This glaucous gull is a winter visitor to the UK. Even this youngster is huge in size, it is worth checking through the gul
26 January 2017
Interesting tail fanning behaviour in snipe
Snipe tail fan display Kim Tarsey Fanning in winter; surely it’s too cold for that?! Look at these snipe fanning their tails to one another on the ice. It is very unusual to see this, let alone film it, as snipe ar
25 January 2017
Dawn swan count
Sunrise over WWT Welney This morning we conducted our January swan count and found there to be 2,413 Bewick's swans and 2,385 whooper swans on the WWT section of the Ouse Washes. This means that Bewick's swan number
17 January 2017
Main hide works Wed 4-Fri 6 January
These works have now been completed to put in place new flooring to the middle section of this hide. Swan feeds will take place as normal using the remaining space in the main hide and the two wing hides, with a commentary and birds being fed in front o
3 January 2017
Winter wildlife spectacle
The reserve is looking fantastic at the moment with over 16,000 birds counted on the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) yesterday. Due to the foggy/overcast conditions there were even 72 Bewick's swans who stayed on the reserve rather than venturing out into th
20 December 2016
Leho arrives home for Christmas
Leho the GPS tagged Bewick's swan Earlier this month a second GPS tagged Bewick's swan, Leho, arrived back at WWT Welney. She is the third GPS tagged Bewick's swan to arrive back in the UK after Daisy Clarke and Ma
14 December 2016
Have you been to an evening swan feed yet?
Badger at the floodlit swan feed The evening floodlit swan feeds are the best chance to see large numbers of swans at a feed, as the swans have returned from the surrounding fields where they have spent the day feedin
2 December 2016
Wader spectacle building
Black-tailed godwit flock by Heather Lowe Over the weekend water levels have risen, bringing many of the wading birds closer to the hides, as well as more birds arriving. This is creating a hive of activity on the i
29 November 2016
Summer review
Cattle leaving On Friday we said goodbye to the last herd of cattle as they returned to their farm. To give you an idea of the summer management carried out on the reserve by staff, volunteers, contractors and lives
24 November 2016
Ready for the next influx of birds
Duck flock by Georgette Taylor The reserve is looking fantastic as we head further into winter....a visitor on Monday said that they had never seen so many wigeon, and we haven't even reached peak numbers yet! We are
23 November 2016
Daisy Clarke's migration is pieced together
Daisy Clarke by Ray Mathias. We were so pleased to see Daisy Clarke arrive back at WWT Welney two weeks ago after her gruelling migration from arctic Russia. It has been wonderful to follow her migration thanks to
22 November 2016
Wildlife photographer Rebecca Nason features in the gallery November & December
Common Eider Raft by Rebecca Nason Pensive Puffin by Rebecca Nason This month and next we have artwork in the gallery for sale by popular wildlife photographer, Rebecca Nason. Reb
16 November 2016
Swan Count
Main Lagoon as the swans started to fly out Thousands of swans are back now for the winter, with a particularly high November count:- WWT Welney: Whooper swan - 4262 Bewick's swan - 305 Ouse Washes total: Whooper swan
15 November 2016
Swan numbers increasing
This week more swans have been arriving at WWT Welney, making the reserve very busy. We will be counting the whooper and Bewick's swans on Tuesday 15 November, but have got over 3,000 in total. There are still over 1,000 swans on the main lagoon each
11 November 2016