Rare cygnets delight visitors
RSPB Balranald Reserve on North Uist is already known throughout the UK for its rare birds and plants but this year visitors have had an extra bonus.
The rare whooper swan has nested and six cygnets have hatched on one of the reserve's lochs.
Most people are familiar with the red billed mute swan which breed throughout the Uists and Harris but the whooper swan normally only visits the region in winter. It is one of the rarest breeding birds in Britain with only a handful of pairs each year.
In the spring, whooper swans start to migrate through the Islands heading for their breeding grounds in Iceland. In most summers a few pairs of whoopers hang around the Islands lochs but only very rarely do they attempt to breed. Most of these summering whooper swans are thought to be old or injured birds unable to complete their final stage of migration to Iceland.
At one time whooper swans were the only swan seen on the Islands but in the late nineteenth century the red billed mute swan was introduced. Birds were released in Harris at Rodel and on North Uist at Balelone in 1887 and quickly spread, particularly on the machair lochs of Uist.
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Weather for Stornoway
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
