Over the years RSPB Rainham Marshes has become a well know staging post for Black-tailed Godwits migrating to and from their Icelandic breeding grounds. Some years we have had up to 700 wintering on our stretch of the Thames with many thousands more as you head out towards Southend.
Colour ringed birds are seen from time to time and this well travelled female was photographed on the 1st of January by Alan Shearman. Right leg: Green, Yellow, Green – Left leg: Green, Black, Yellow. Information from Peter Potts who co-ordinates the UK colour ringing scheme for this species was able to shed some light on her movements.
(Alan Shearman)
She was first caught and ringed as an adult at Iken on the River Alde in Suffolk on the 30th July 2016 before disappearing for a whole year. At that point she was seen at Caldy on the River Dee in Merseyside on the 29th July 2017 where she then stayed and was recorded many times until the 13th April.
After presumably heading to Iceland to breed she headed south once again and was seen in Essex on the Thames at Thurrock Thameside Nature Park on the 12th October 2018 where she stayed until 23rd April 2019.
(Mark Vale)
By the 21st July she had done the Icelandic trip and was seen for the first time at RSPB Rainham Marshes where she stayed until the 5th November. Perhaps she spent the rest of the winter further along the Thames or down along the south coast?
There were no sightings in 2020 (but there were not that many people out looking!) On her way back from Iceland she deviated via Northern Island and was seen in Co. Down at Murlough NNR on the 16th August 2021 before nipping across the Irish Sea to Frodsham in Cheshire on the 1st September. She was back at Rainham on the 14th October for the winter and it is good that she has made it into another year! Black-tailed Godwits can be very long lived birds so hopefully there will be more sightings to come.