Sacha Dench of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is going to be undertaking the first attempt to fly along with them using only a paramotor. She’ll be taking off with the swans from the Russian high Arctic in the fall and traveling approximately 4,500 miles across 11 countries, ending at their overwintering grounds in the UK.
The Bewick’s swans who Dench will be accompanying are endangered and their numbers have dropped dramatically over the past 20 years. Now researchers from the University of Exeter, who are part of the expedition team, are trying to learn more about exactly why so few are surviving.
According to the research team, between 1995 and 2010 the number of swans making this migration has fallen by more than a third from 29,000 to just 18,000. Some of the threats they’re now facing include a loss of wetland habitat, development, energy exploration, being hunted and climate change.