Black-tailed Godwits hatch from rescued eggs

A clutch of Black-tailed Godwit eggs that were rescued from rising floodwater has hatched.

The eggs were collected from an area of flooded arable farmland at a 'lifeboat site' at the Ouse Washes in Cambridgeshire.

The chicks will be looked after by Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) staff for up to a month until they are able to fly. Each bird will be ringed and named, and later released back into the wild near Welney WWT in Norfolk.

The Black-tailed Godwit chicks rescued from the floods on the Ouse Washes (WWT).

Rare British breeding bird

The 'lifeboat sites', managed by the WWT and RSPB, are designed to be healthy wetland habitats, accessible even when the surrounding area is flooded, giving birds somewhere suitable to nest.

The WWT said that Black-tailed Godwits have struggled to find suitable nest sites this year due to excessively high water levels, and without human intervention their critically low numbers would fall further.

There are fewer than 50 pairs of limosa Black-tailed Godwits breeding in Britain and they rely on a handful of wetland sites in East Anglia to nest.

Rescued chicks

William Costa, project manager and lead aviculturist at WWT, said: "Without ongoing efforts to restore wetlands around The Fens there would probably be no Black-tailed Godwit chicks fledging in the UK this year.

"This rescued generation of godwits will be crucial to helping the species remain as a breeding bird in the UK. By releasing a minimum of 20 of them this year and establishing the world's first captive-breeding population, we will be giving this subspecies the lifeline it needs to survive as our wetland restoration work ramps up around the UK."

Last year, the RSPB, WWT and Natural England published a new action plan in their final year of collaboration on Project Godwit, whichs aims to help secure the future of the UK's breeding population of Black-tailed Godwit.