It's Monday, so it must be time for the latest species of the week blog, in which I feature one of the 70 species that we're challenging you find at Minsmere. This week it's the turn of one of the easier species. What's more, after a recent run of plants and invertebrates, it's a bird. The black-tailed godwit.
Black-tailed godwits are relatively easy to find at Minsmere as there are usually one or two present throughout the year. They are also relatively easy to easy to identify, even for beginners. At least by the standards of many of the other wading birds.
Godwits are large, long-legged, long-billed waders. They are significantly bigger than, for example, redshanks, being similar in size to an avocet and smaller only than the huge curlew in the UK. There are two species of godwit that regularly occur in the UK, and both a re similar with rusty plumage in summer, browner in winter, and long, almost straight beaks. Black-tailed godwits are common at Minsmere while bar-tailed godwits are scarcer here as they favour estuaries. However, both can be seen during autumn migration, so lets take a closer look at the differences.
Black-tailed godwits have longer legs than bar-tailed, especially above the "knee" (what we think of as a bird's knees are actually their ankles!) A good tip I heard a few years ago is to imagine writing the word "black" or "bar" between the knee and the body. In breeding pluage, black-tailed godwits are orange-red, while bar-tailed are usually darker brick red. In addition, the red extends further down the belly on bar-tailed. In winter plumage, black-tailed godwits are plain grey-brown, similar in colouration to a redshank. Bar-tailed are browner, with dark feather centres, much like a curlew pattern.
As their names suggest, the tail pattern is a good clue, but it's the wings and rump markings that are best identification features. Black-tailed godiwts have broad white wingbars and a square white rump, which are very distinctive in flight. Bar-tailed lack the wingbars, and the white rump extends in a deep V right up the back - again, much like a curlew. Luckily, if there's more than one godwit present then you don't usually have to wait long for them to flap wings in an argument over personal space.
A black-tailed godwit in breeding plumage coming in to land. Photo by Jon Evans
There are more than 150 black-tailed godwits on the Scrape at the moment. These are Icelandic breeding birds that winter in large numbers on some UK estuaries, in Portugal and in West Africa. Occasionally we also spot one of the mainland European race birds, whose plumage features are subtly different. These breed in northern and eastern Europe (countries such as Poland, Estonia and Sweden), with smaller numbers in The Netherlands. A handful of pairs of black-tailed godwits also breed in The Fens, where numbers are threatened by spring flooding of their breeding areas. To help numbers to recover, the RSPB and several partner organisations have formed Project Godwit. This spring, this project collected eggs under licence from wild birds, reared them in captivity, then released the birds back into the wild at WWT Welney in Nofolk. This process is known as headstarting, and ensures a greater survival of youngsters. These young godwits were fitted with a unique combination of colour rings, and the Project Godwit team are now asking birdwatchers to report any sightings of the young godwits. So far, birds have been spotted in North Norfolk, Somerset, South Suffolk and Essex, but not yet here at Minsmere. Will we find any this autumn?
Of course, there's more than just 150 or so black-tailed godwits to look for on the Scrape this week. There's a great selection of waders, including varying numbers of avocets, lapwings, ringed plovers, knots, dunlins, curlew sandpipers, ruffs, snipe, curlews, spotted redshanks, redshanks, greenshanks and green, common and wood sandpipers. There's also little gulls, common and Sandwich terns and various ducks to spot.
Elsewhere on the reserve, look out for bitterns, marsh harriers, bearded tits, otters and kingfishers in the reedbed; whitethroats, lesser whitethroats, willow warblers and blackcaps in the North Bushes; pied and yellow wagtails, stonechats, linnets and wheatears in the dunes and grasslands; wasp spiders and grayling butterflies in the dunes; various butterflies and dragonflies around the visitor centre and woodland; and water voles at the pond. There were also two spotted flycatchers near the pond this morning.
A grayling butterfly on sea holly