It hasn’t been easy for the team at Project Godwit to get a good handle on what the godwits have been up to so far this season, for obvious reasons. When the coronavirus crisis emerged many team members became furloughed and most of the remaining team were confined to quarters. Thankfully, however, we’ve been able to get a good idea of how the birds are faring thanks to site staff at the project sites, WWT Welney, RSPB Nene Washes and RSPB Ouse Washes. While staff have been undertaking essential site work on the reserves, such as checking livestock and managing water levels, they have been keeping a record of the godwits they spot.

Guess who’s back?

There are 16 head-started birds from the project back at the time of writing (8 from 2017, 8 from 2018). Here are highlights of some of the birds back so far.

Remi was first recorded back at Welney on 30th March and last seen 3rd April. Remi is from the Class of 2017, as is Ramsey (back at Welney since 12th April) and Anouk (back since 29th April at Welney).

Earith

Earith was spotted on 24th April back at the RSPB Pilot Project site (adjacent to the Ouse Washes). Earith paired with a wild-reared male in previous years and fledged a chick – a female, who is now two years old and also back in the Fens (at Welney). Earith is currently paired with an unringed male at the Pilot Project – fingers crossed they will breed again this year!

Also back at the Pilot Project are Nelson and Lady (aka ‘Lord & Lady Nelson’) . This pair have previously nested at Lady Fen, Welney in 2018 and 2019.

Chip

The last time this godwit was seen was in July 2019 in Senegal! Chip was the first head-started godwit to be seen in Africa on its wintering grounds, identified by his colour rings at Djoudj National Park, Senegal. Chip has since been spotted on 29th April feeding at a pool on Lady Fen at Welney.

Chip’s sister Wedge is also back, first spotted back at Welney on 12th April and again on the 29th. You may remember these birds were amongst the muddy egg cohort to be rescued from arable farmland in spring 2018 when the Nene Washes flooded. Dill was also amongst those rescued eggs, as was Estragon, both recorded back at Welney as of 12th April.  

Cornelia

Some major news which deserves a fanfare: the first geolocator to be retrieved from a head-started godwit has recently been analysed by the team at Project Godwit. Cornelia had a geolocator attached to her as a chick in 2018, which was retrieved in 2019.

The data reveals she took around just 48 hours to leave the Nene Washes on the evening of 13^th August 2018 and arrive in the wetlands of south-eastern Mauritania during the night on 15^th August. This incredible journey may even have been a non-stop flight! Cornelia returned to the Nene Washes on 19^th April this year.

Denver

A well travelled godwit, Denver has been seen at the Giganta Ricefields in Portugal (in February 2019), near Leiderdorp in the Netherlands (in February 2020) and closer to home at Welney on 1st April.

It seems there was a reunion with some of the head-started birds at the Giganta Ricefields in Portugal back in February. Delph was also there with Denver at that time (seen back at Welney 8th April), as was Morgan, who first returned to Welney on 8th April but moved to the Pilot Project on 27th April. Such a gathering is no surprise, considering these ricefields plus the nearby Tagus estuary in Portugal hold around 70,000 black-tailed godwits in late winter of both the limosa and islandica races.

Stay tuned for updates.

Thank you for your support.