Actitis hypoleucos – PIBYDD Y DORLAN – Passage migrant and winter visitor
Updates to the Wetland Bird Survey counts for this season.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Whooper Swan – WeBS 2021-22
Category: Whooper Swan
Whooper Swan – records
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant
Earlier records are summarised in Whooper Swan 1994
This table shows the number of individuals reported in each month. Note that any individual or group may have stayed into the next month or two, therefore these figures do not add up to the number of records, or the number of actual individuals reported in any one year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Notes | ||
| 1993 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1994 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||
| 1995 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| 1996 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | (1) | |||||||
| 1997 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 3 | |||||||
| 1998 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 1999 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
| 2000 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 18 | 2 | ||||||
| 2001 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||
| 2002 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | ||||||
| 2003 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||
| 2004 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2005 | 1 | 14 | 10 | |||||||||
| 2006 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 2007 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 2008 | 5 | 8 | 2 | |||||||||
| 2009 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 6 | ||||||||
| 2010 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 15 | |||||||
| 2011 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 3 | ||||||
| 2012 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 3 | |||||||
| 2013 | 5 | 6 | 5 | |||||||||
| 2014 | 10 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 2015 | 4 | |||||||||||
| 2016 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |||||||
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 26 | 5 | ||||||
| 2018 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 9 | 13 | |||||||
| 2019 | 8 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 14 | 3 | ||||
| 2020 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 14 |
Notes: (1) One seen briefly at Bosherston Lakes on 29 November 1996 had been colour-ringed in Iceland. This record was in the 1997 report, but the archive shows it actually referred to 1996.
Records extracted from the Pembrokeshire Bird Reports, which may contain more detail than shown here.
Whooper Swan – 2020 WeBS
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant
Whooper swans are uncommon in Pembrokeshire, and seen only in small numbers, if at all. So far, there have been none seen on WeBS counts in 2020-21
The graph shows the total maximum counts each winter for all Pembrokeshire sites in the Wetland Bird Survey.Â
There may be higher counts at other times during each winter.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Whooper Swan – 1994
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant
Mathew (1894) noted only undated records from Pant y Phillip and one shot by Lord Cawdor at Stackpole. Lockley et al. (1949) cited a flock at Cosheston from 24 to 28 January 1933, which had moved to Garon Pill by 29 January, and a pair at Dowrog Pool on 26 January 1948.
Up to 20 birds per annum were recorded in 31 of the next 42 years, none staying for longer than a few days, apart from one that was at Marloes Mere from 7 December 1991 to 25 January 1992. Most occur between December and February but there is evidently an erratic through passage in October to November and March to May, the largest group recorded being 47 which flew over Skokholm on 19 February 1956.
Whooper Swan – 1980s winter
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant
Whooper Swans were registered in one 10km square in Pembrokeshire for the BTO winter atlas during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.
Graham Rees. Pembrokeshire County Bird Recorder 1981-2007
Data collected by volunteers for the BTO. Lack, P. 1986 Atlas of wintering birds in Britain and Ireland. T & A.D. Poyser.
Whooper Swan – 1949
Cygnus cygnus
Mathew gives only undated records from Pantyphillip and Stackpole.
H.A.Gilbert records it 24/28 Jan 1933, Cosheston – these birds were seen at Garron Pill 29 Jan 1933, by R.M.L. A pair at Dowrog Pool, 26 Jan 1948 (A.Howell)
Whooper Swan – 1894
WHOOPER, Cygnus musicus
A rare, occasional winter visitor; not many on record.
One, in the collection of the late Mr. John Stokes, at Cuffern, was shot many years ago at Pantyphillip, some three miles inland to the south of Fishguard. One at Stackpole frequented the lake there for some time, until it was shot by Lord Cawdor, with his rifle, from the bridge crossing the lake. Singularly enough, that same day, a party shooting through the covers in the park, brought in a specimen of Bewick’s Swan that had been shot out of a flock of six or seven passing over-head. Among the “various” captured in the decoy at Orielton, a Swan is included, but the species is not given.
Whooper Swan
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant
Whooper Swan – WeBS 2021-22
The latest figures from the Wetland Bird Survey in Pembrokeshire – totals from all count sites.
Whooper Swan – records
A table showing the number of individuals reported in the county in each month since 1993. Extracted from the Pembrokeshire Bird Reports
Whooper Swan – 2020 WeBS
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant Whooper swans are uncommon in Pembrokeshire, and seen only in small numbers, if at all. So far, there have been none seen on WeBS counts in 2020-21 The graph shows the total maximum counts each winter for all Pembrokeshire sites in the Wetland […]
Whooper Swan – 1994
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant Mathew (1894) noted only undated records from Pant y Phillip and one shot by Lord Cawdor at Stackpole. Lockley et al. (1949) cited a flock at Cosheston from 24 to 28 January 1933, which had moved to Garon Pill by 29 January, and a pair […]
Whooper Swan – 1980s winter
Cygnus cygnus – ALARCH GOGLEDD – Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant Whooper Swans were registered in one 10km square in Pembrokeshire for the BTO winter atlas during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84. More about the Whooper Swan in Pembrokeshire
Whooper Swan – 1949
Species account from the Birds of Pembrokeshire, 1949, by Lockley, Ingram and Salmon.
Whooper Swan – 1894
Species account from the 1894 ‘Birds of Pembrokeshire and its Islands’ by Rev M A Mathew
Pembrokeshire Avifauna 