© Nenetskiy Zapovednik

The Swan Champions in the European Russian Arctic continue to organise impactful activities that celebrate Bewick’s swans and their wetland habitats and dissuade people from hunting this iconic species. Winning over hearts and minds was the thinking behind a successful two-week tour of the Travelling Swan Exhibition that took place in February this year. The Federal Nature Reserve (Nenestiky Zapovednik) partnered with the Nenets Museum of Local Lore and WWT to create the exhibition which visited four remote communities in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a key breeding area for the swans. Staff from the Nenetskiy Zapovednik travelled more than 1,200 km across snowy lands, ran 40 nature talks and 15 masterclasses with local schools. The exhibition reached almost 700 people and each community visited had a ringed swan named after it.

Photo by Nenetskiy Zapovednik