Four black-winged stilts were found on the scrape at Wat Tyler Country Park early afternoon on Saturday. They remained all afternoon, although did move to RSPB Bowers Marsh for a while before returning to the scrape. Unfortunately they were not present on Sunday.
Identification black above, white below, white head and neck, long pink legs, long thin black bill.Male - black back with green glossFemale - brown back. Immature - grey, sandy wings.
Breeds irregularly in scattered localities in southern Europe, but an opportunistic species that occasionally breeds far out of normal range. There have been six breeding attempts in Britain. Occurs annually in Britain with most records in the south-east during April/May.
Interestingly at 23 cm, a black-winged stilt's legs represent 60% of the birds height, which means it can feed in deeper water than other waders.
Thanks once again to local photographer Steve Arlow for the images above, more images can be found here.