A WETLAND reserve warden has joined an international expedition to help save one of the world’s most iconic swan species.

David Dinsley from WWT Washington Wetland Centre visited Arctic Russia in August to monitor Bewick’s swans as part of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s (WWT) long-term study of the “critically endangered bird”.

The 30-year-old, from Cramlington, was selected to join WWT’s monitoring assistant Kane Brides on the 2000-mile annual trip to catch and ring the birds at their remote tundra breeding grounds.

Mr Dinsley said: “The aim of the trip was to catch and ring as many birds as possible in two weeks, to increase the number of individuals that can be identified in the field.

"We travelled by boat to areas frequented by Bewick’s swans and in total tagged 60 Bewick’s, ten of which had been ringed before, as well as nine mute swans and five whoopers.

"As well as ringing the adult and yearling birds, we noted 24 cygnets and ten families, compared to just one cygnet in 2017 – a good early indication of a successful breeding season this year.”

Re-sightings of these ringed swans as they journey back across Europe to over-winter in the UK give researchers information on the movements, site fidelity, breeding success and survival of individual birds – vital data which helps answer important questions about their population decline.