GO WILD WITH ERIC PAYLOR

KEEP your eyes focussed on Cleveland's skies this month, because you may well see a skein of one of our most attractive visitors flying by.

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John Money's whooper swan

It's the whooper swan, slightly smaller than the more familiar mute swan, which is arriving in Britain in large numbers after raising a family in Iceland.

Whooper swans are easy to spot in the air, being all white and usually flying in a V-formation.

However they do occasionally land here and could turn up anywhere where there is water. A large number landed on Bran Sands near South Gare last week and they might be seen at any inland lake including RSPB Saltholme, Lockwood Beck and Scaling Dam.

They visit lakes in order to eat aquatic plants, but are just as happy on farmland where they will eat grass and leftover potatoes and grain.