swans Archives - British Waterfowl Association

Last chance to bid on our AGM auction items!

Morag Jones — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:19:04 +0000

Let us know your maximum bid for any of these auction items by noon on Saturday 22nd and we will contact you on Sunday to let you know if you are successful.

Please contact secretary@waterfowl.org.uk with the Lot number, description, your maximum bid and a contact email.

Good luck!

Lot no	Item
1	Chiffon Goose Scarf
2	Lundi Farms Calendar
3	Pink-eared Duck painting
4	Hunting scene goblets
5	Hunting scene jug and tumbler
6	Handcrafted walking stick
7	Bag of Lundi micro Regular
8	Bewick’s Swan painting
9	Pair of Chinese Spotbills (buyer collect after movement restrictions end)
10	Tin garden goose
11	Spectacled (Bronze-wing) Duck carving
12	Half a Single Gloucester Cheese
13	Half a Double Gloucester Cheese
14	Polar Bear experience at Jimmy's Farm
15	Bag of Lundi micro Regular
16	Vintage Sloe gin
17	Waddesdon Manor behind the scenes tour
18	Round of Stinking Bishop cheese

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Win a free room at the AGM party

Morag Jones — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 09:07:53 +0000

Book now and you could win a great freebee. Although our open days are usually member-only, our weekend at Hellidon Lakes is open to all. The AGM business part of the event is only a small part. Come along and join us for party time! Rekindling the spirit of friendship and love of waterfowl at Hellidon Lakes Hotel, Daventry.

We will welcome all to a great weekend celebrating waterfowl and enjoying the company of fellow enthusiasts. Bowling: Wildfowl vs Domestic, a waterfowl quiz, banquet dinner and auction of waterfowl stuff. Music and dancing to round off the evening. We have a REALLY fabulous deal at this super resort hotel — why not come and meet us and share a weekend to remember?

Banquet dinner £40pp

Single occupancy room £99

Double occupancy room £109

Register with a £10 deposit by 30th August, secretary@waterfowl.org.uk 07514 601167 — we will draw the lucky winners at our Summer Symposium the next day.

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AI still affecting Black-headed Gulls

Morag Jones — Fri, 12 May 2023 14:56:08 +0000

Although wild bird cases of bird flu are starting to diminish, large groups of Black-headed Gulls continue to see mass die-offs. This latest one in Bedford is a timely reminder that we still need to take utmost care with our biosecurity.

See local BBC New report here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-65562633

For the latest Gov.uk info about hygiene and biosecurity standards to keep birds safe, visit the page for

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Swans killed in Essex

Morag Jones — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 10:33:15 +0000

As waterfowl lovers, it is hard to understand why anyone takes pleasure harming these beautiful creatures. Large, close and slow moving, they could not even be described as 'sporting' targets.

Following catapult attacks on four Mute Swans early in the new year, 2 firms with local connections have each offered £1000 for information leading to an arrest of the culprit.

Three of the swans were found dead and a fourth died while being treated at a local veterinary practice.

Essex Police asked anyone with information to call them quoting crime reference 42/892/23

https://www.birdguides.com/news/swans-killed-by-catapults-in-essex/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter160123&dm_i=73DM,D44N,ZVFX2,1LQ0X,1

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Pal-Mates … weekend web tip

Morag Jones — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 10:00:17 +0000

What's in a name — Maned Duck or Maned Goose?

Life is a gradient of relatedness and what taxonomy tries to do is put it in that order.

When the common names were thought up for waterfowl they were either called a duck or a goose according to how we traditionally recognised each — ‘ducks' generally being smaller and shorter-necked than ‘geese', with a broader bill evolved for an omnivorous diet; ‘geese' tend to be more terrestrial, with a stronger bill evolved for grazing. In the case of the Maned Duck/Goose, it seems a consensus couldn’t be reached!

Features we attributed to each group sometimes came about independently through convergent evolution. Thanks to DNA sequencing revealing more about their relatedness, we now know that these two groups are paraphyletic, so the common names can now cause confusion. This can be avoided by just using the taxonomic names instead.

BWA uses the IOC’s list primarily: worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/waterfowl

we believe this is mainly based on: Gonzalez J H Düttmann & M Wink. 2009. Phylogenetic relationships based on two mitochondrial genes and hybridization patterns in Anatidae. Journal of Zoology 279: 310–318.

To list the birds on this site we used this in conjunction with: Winkler D. W. S. M. Billerman and I. J. Lovette (2020). Ducks Geese and Waterfowl (Anatidae) version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ithaca NY USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.anatid1.01 which is based on: del Hoyo J. & Collar N.J. (2014). HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions Barcelona.

Wikipedia can also come into its own in terms of making it easier to understand, though obviously needs to be used with caution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck#Taxonomy

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Housing measures now apply to Northern Ireland and from Friday also to Wales

Morag Jones — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 14:58:51 +0000

The requirement to house our birds was announced for Northern Ireland today. On Friday 2nd December it will also apply to Wales. The details of these housing orders are broadly similar to those in force in England. Full specific details can be found for each administration:

https://www.gov.uk/animal-disease-cases-england/avian-influenza-prevention-zone-aipz-including-housing-measures-the-whole-of-england

https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/news/avian-housing-order-introduced-ni

https://gov.wales/avian-influenza-bird-flu-latest-update

The ability to keep waterfowl under netting instead of being housed is on welfare grounds. You must have a consultation with your vet, and make a physical note of what measures you are taking to prevent disease. This derogation does not apply to chickens - they must be housed.

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Pal-Mates … weekend web tip

Morag Jones — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 18:54:53 +0000

Netting of enclosures — the times they are a-changing an old song goes...

Bird flu isn't a myth or a conspiracy. The way we keep our birds is going to evolve and netting a waterfowl collection is worth serious thought.

Pros

• Prevents predation of birds and eggs

• Reduces food bill

• Reduces disease transfer from wild birds

• Keeps migratory birds out

• Contains non-native species

• Avian Influenza biosecurity compliant

• Allows keeping of free winged species

• Modern netting allows large areas to be covered

• Keeps large leaves off the pond

Cons

• Difficult, but not impossible to work with mature trees

• Not so pretty

• Heavy wet snow can sit on it

• Leaves can sit on it

We will have a feature in Winter Waterfowl on overhead netting.

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Pal-Mates … weekend web tip

Morag Jones — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 16:04:43 +0000

New bird flu cases are coming up most days. Is there anything that can save your birds if you are infected?

Most of East Anglia is subject to a poultry (this includes waterfowl) housing order now, but it is quite likely that other areas will be added if there are more clusters of outbreaks. For birds to be spared from culling where there is an outbreak, you will need to have a secure, clean and empty place to put them. The highest standard of biosecurity arrangements will be needed, including controlled entry and hygiene areas. It is too late to build a facility once the culling has started.

APHA have acknowledged that some waterfowl in private hands are extremely rare in the wild, and numbers of some of our domestic breeds are teetering on a knife-edge. The lists APHA use for guidance for being considered for exemption from slaughter are the IUCN Red List for species, and the RBST breed Watchlist for domestic birds. Additionally, if the birds are part of a recognised breeding programme and have high genetic value, they MIGHT also be considered. Documentation and expert statements may be needed. The BWA’s Breed Registrar scheme was set up to document pure-bred flocks for this very reason, but relatively few chose to participate.

When an outbreak happens, the process is very upsetting. The operatives overseeing and doing the culling will not necessarily know anything about the species and breeds you keep. Skills and knowledge access the country are variable. Our top tip for this weekend is to make a list of your relevant birds, their species/breed and breeding status and take photographs to back this up. It is natural for a brain fog to descend as you try to come to terms with losing your birds.

With all disease and welfare problems, prevention is better than cure.

For further information on cases and details of the measures that apply in the disease control zones currently in force see:

England: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu-cases-and-disease-control-zones-in-england

Wales: https://gov.wales/avian-influenza-bird-flu-latest-update

Scotland: https://www.gov.scot/publications/avian-influenza-bird-flu/

Northern Ireland: https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/avian-influenza-ai

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Avian Influenza vaccine

Morag Jones — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 01:45:53 +0000

We do get asked about vaccines for bird flu; the Head of Virology for APHA was on Farming Today yesterday. You can listen to the broadcast on BBC Sounds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001cp3m

We asked APHA for comment, they are fully behind the content of this broadcast and confirmed that all research on vaccines is being monitored. It is however some way down the line.

Read transcript here.

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Pal-Mates …weekend web tip

Morag Jones — Fri, 06 May 2022 21:17:08 +0000

U is for underwater. All may be serene on the surface, but there's lots going on below. Some birds prefer to stay topsides, but others spend time undewater foraging for food.

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