Small swans on the Kalmthoutse Heide
Anyone who was on the Kalmthoutse Heide early enough this winter may also have noticed the Lesser swans that came to sleep on the fens, especially the Stappersven. Three species of swans occur naturally in Flanders. The Mute Swan that occurs here year-round and is known to most people, but in addition the Lesser and Wild Swan also occur in winter. Compared to Mute Swan, the Lesser Swan is obviously a lot smaller, has much less of the typical S-shaped swan neck and has a black/yellow bill. The Lesser Swan is the species that breeds most northerly in the Russian tundra and has to fly many thousands of kilometres to come to winter in our region.
The overwintering population of Lesser Swan has been declining in the region for a long time. There are several causes on the one hand presumably a decline in the population due to too low reproduction. In addition, the wintering population is shifting to the northeast due to milder winters and finally, there may also be a redistribution of the wintering population with increases in Greece, among others. Research with GPS trackers hopes to find more explanations for the changes in numbers.
Small swans in our region forage during the day in fields and arable land both inside and outside the grenspark. But every evening they return to large expanses of water to spend the night in a safe way, and in doing so, the grenspark has apparently been their choice this winter. Every night, with the exception of times when the fens were frozen over, Little Swans slept in the grenspark park. For large parts of the winter, several dozen to a maximum of 50 Lesser swans were present on the fens. Consequently, the beautiful sound could be heard every morning upon awakening, and especially upon leaving the roost they call loudly as can be heard in this recording.