Mute swan flock at QE2 Country Park (Winter 2015)
Members of Northumbria Ringing Group are involved in the long term study of Mute Swans across North East England. Every summer we catch and ring breeding swans and their cygnets as well as individual birds in the established summer moult flocks. In the winter we ring any birds that arrive at the winter flock sites.
One such flock site is QE2 Country Park on the site of the old Woodhorn Colliery near Ashington in Northumberland. The flock currently contains 62 Mute Swans.
On November 14th 2016, 50 of the swans were individually identified from their ring numbers, giving an opportunity to look at structure of the flock in terms of age, sex and where the birds originally came from.
Age of the birds
The vast majority of the swans in the flock are young birds with more than 50% in their second or third year. The two oldest swans are the resident breeding pair aged 10 years (cob) and 7 years+ (pen). Perhaps surprisingly, despite a good number of 2016 cygnets leaving their natal sites to join flocks, none had yet arrived at QE2 Park by mid-November.
Sex of the birds
Of the 50 swans identified, 28 are male and 22 are female so there doesn’t appear to be a strong bias towards one particular sex.
Origins of the birds
The Mute Swan is generally thought to be a fairly sedentary species, but individual birds regularly travel longer distances. This would appear to be backed up by a check on the origins of the swans in the QE2 flock.
From the sample of 50 birds, 25 were ringed at QE2 park, but none of those individuals were ringed there as cygnets, so all of the birds in the flock have travelled to QE2 from elsewhere. Of the birds ringed at other sites, only 3 birds have travelled more than 40km. The furthest travelled bird was ringed in Edinburgh as a cygnet in 2014 (131km). The breeding male at QE2 park originally comes from Stockton on Tees (70km) and a 2015 cygnet, from Brasside pond in County Durham, has travelled 43km.
One bird was released at the site by the RSPCA after rehabilitation and another unringed bird is flightless as a result of an “Angel Wing” deformity in one of its wings.
QE2 country park marked in green with the known origin of ringed birds in red
| BTO Ring | Darvic | Where ringed | Sex | Dist. from ringing site |
| ZY 1021 | ZDJ | Stockton on Tees | M | 70km |
| ZY 4463 | Marden Quarry, Whitley Bay | F | N/A | |
| ZY 5005 | ZCS | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km |
| ZY 5089 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 5345 | Ladyburn Lake, Druridge Bay, Northumberland | F | 11km | |
| ZY 5372 | Killingworth Lake, North Tyneside | F | 18km | |
| ZY 5376 | Killingworth Lake, North Tyneside | F | 18km | |
| ZY 5854 | Bradley Hall Gardens, Wylam | M | 29.5km | |
| ZY 5883 | Burradon Pond, North Tyneside | M | 16.5km | |
| ZY 5884 | Burradon Pond, North Tyneside | M | 16.5km | |
| ZY 6314 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 6383 | Wansbeck Busines Park, Ashington | M | 1.5km | |
| ZY 6392 | Marden Quarry, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside | F | 19km | |
| ZY 6794 | Ramside Hall, Durham | M | 40km | |
| ZY 7074 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| ZY 7075 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 7079 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 7081 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 8101 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 8127 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 8129 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 8139 | Herrington CP, Sunderland | M | 35.5km | |
| ZY 8168 | Tilesheds, Boldon, South Tyneside | F | 28km | |
| ZY 8171 | Newsham, Blyth, Northumberland | M | 10km | |
| ZY 8172 | Newsham, Blyth, Northumberland | F | 10km | |
| ZY 8175 | Ladyburn Lake, Druridge Bay, Northumberland | F | 11km | |
| ZY 8192 | Woolsington Pond | F | 21km | |
| ZY 8199 | Big Waters NR, Seaton Burn, Newcastle upon Tyne | F | 16km | |
| ZY 8602 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| ZY 8612 | Killingworth Lake, North Tyneside | F | 18km | |
| ZY 8619 | Felmoor Park, Northumberland | M | 13km | |
| ZY 8641 | Herrington CP, Sunderland | M | 35.5km | |
| ZY 8665 | Big Waters NR, Seaton Burn, Newcastle upon Tyne | M | 16km | |
| ZY 8683 | Brasside Pond, Durham | F | 43.5km | |
| XY 2008 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| XY 2012 | Bradley Hall Gardens, Wylam, Nothumb. | F | 29.5km | |
| XY 2015 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| XY 2025 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| XY 2030 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| XY 2033 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| XY 2049 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| XY 2050 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| XY 2062 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| XY 2073 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| XY 2075 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| XY 2077 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| XY 2079 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | M | 0km | |
| XY 2809 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| XY 3047 | QE2 Park, Ashington, Northumberland | F | 0km | |
| W38249 | SCD Green | Figgate Pond, Edinburgh | M | 131km |
Andy Rickeard – Northumbria Ringing Group
Acknowledgement
With grateful thanks to Joan Fisher for providing frequent and comprehensive sightings of Mute Swans across the region.
Northumbria Ringing Group 