*Photo courtesy of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)*

The Project

Creation of three artworks to support the funding of Flight of the Swans, a unique expedition to save Europe’s smallest swan from disappearing - the Bewick’s swan, the smallest of the three species existing in the UK.

The Problem

The number of Northwest European Bewick’s swans has plummeted by a third in recent years. There are now less than 21,000 left.

Every autumn, Bewick’s swans face a dangerous migration to the UK from northern Russia. Along their 3,500km route between the breeding and wintering sites there are predators, fewer wetlands and the risk of hitting power lines, but if they don’t migrate, they will be caught in the ice and snow of the arctic winter. In spring, they do it all again as they fly back to Russia.

The swans are also illegally hunted – often mistakenly because their small size makes them resemble geese in low winter light. They are also susceptible to eating the lead ammunition sprayed from shotguns, which poisons, weakens and often kills them

What is Flight of the Swans?

A unique expedition which took place in autumn 2016 to enable the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) to go further in the quest to discover the cause of the swans’ drop in numbers.

Flight of the Swans was the first ever attempt to follow the migration of the Bewick’s swan from the air. Taking to the skies around mid-September (the exact date depended on the birds!), WWT conservationist Sacha Dench strapped a paramotor to her back and flew the Bewick’s swans’ entire migratory route, from arctic Russia back to their wintering grounds in the UK.

Flying at the same speed and height as the swans, she experienced the wonders and dangers the swans face including heavy storms, sea crossings and extreme cold. Along the way, Sacha and her support team met with the communities that live along the swans’ flight path, including reindeer herders, farmers and hunters, and investigate why the number of Bewick’s swans in Europe has almost halved in the last twenty years with less than 21,000 now surviving.

Why it mattered?

Flight of the Swans was an epic journey of 7,500km across 11 countries that brought communities, conservationists and governments together along the Bewick’s flyway, to ensure greater protection for the birds and the vital wetlands they need to survive.

By joining the Bewick’s on their migration, Sacha and the expedition team saw for themselves just why swans are unable to survive the journey and gathered first-hand evidence and information that, combined with existing research, can contribute to life-saving conservation action right along the Bewick’s migratory flyway.

Artistic Direction

The drawings simply depict a British swan in some of its typical behaviours in water. The artworks are done in a gradation of light to more earthy paper colours to emphasize the contrasts between air, ground and water, the typical playgrounds of the swans.

Every sale helped to fund the planning and preparation of the Flight of the Swans expedition in 2016 and now continue to support one of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s essential missions – to save critically endangered species from extinction, work with communities around the world who depend on wetlands and inspire people to take care of nature.