Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) Photo by By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122718207

Dear Readers, the Black-tailed Godwit is a bird most likely to be seen in muddy estuaries, marshes and wet pasture in winter, when the native subspecies (Limosa limosa limosa) is boosted by Black-tailed Godwits arriving from Iceland (Limosa limosa islandica). And herein lies a tale of two very similar birds, one critically endangered, and one actually expanding its range and doing rather well.

The population of breeding birds of the limosa subspecies is vanishingly small, with less than 50 pairs of birds remaining, mostly in East Anglia. They need flooded meadows and bogs to breed in, but as we know, these are rare, and becoming rarer. Which is a shame, not just for the birds but for us too,  as meadows and wetlands are amongst the best measures for soaking up excessive water. The birds, as ground nesters, are also under severe predation pressure: one factor that I hadn’t considered, and which is also implicated in the falling numbers of curlews, is the increase in animals such as foxes due to the ridiculous number of gamebirds (particularly pheasants) which provide easy pickings, and enable the numbers of predators to grow.  The situation for the limosa birds is so severe that organisations such as the RSPB are ‘head-starting’ some chicks (taking chicks from the nest and rearing them in captivity before releasing them when grown).

To add to their problems, Black-tailed Godwits were considered a great delicacy in the UK right up until Victorian times and 6,000 – 8,000 of the birds are still hunted every year in France (the last European country to do so), although the EU does now have a management plan to try to preserve the species.

The Icelandic birds, on the other hand, breed in Iceland where the areas of lowland, semi-natural grasslands are actually growing due to climate change, and are doing very well.

Black-tailed Godwits are elegant birds, long-legged and long-billed, who immerse their whole heads and beaks to find the small invertebrates that they feed upon. The birds pair for life, but only spend  time together on their breeding grounds – when they migrate they do so separately, with each individual bird being faithful to particular stopping places and wintering grounds (the Icelandic birds go back to Iceland from the UK in spring, while the limosa birds return to the UK from southern Europe/Western Africa). The males display rather splendidly to the females, and defend nesting sites until their mates arrive. If the mate does not appear after a few days, a ‘divorce’ occurs and either party can go off to find another mate.

Displaying male Black-tailed Godwit (Photo By Berend Jan Stijf. – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2163689)

My old favourite source of all things bird, the Crossley Guide, refers to the Black-tailed Godwit as ‘not noisy, making the odd whining ‘wicka‘. See what you think. These birds were recorded in Ireland by Irish Wildlife Sounds. The bird sounds more like a small dog to me!

So, if you visit an estuary or a wetland during the next few months, you may well see some of the Icelandic godwits, probing the mud with their elegant beaks. But to see the UK birds you will need to be in East Anglia, in the summer, and to be very, very lucky.