RETURN TO . . . Emsworth Wildlife - Homepage BLACK-TAILED GODWITS NEWS AND SIGHTINGS FOR SEASON 2014-15 See also . . . Colour-ringing information . . . Godwits season 2013-14 . . . Godwits season 2012-13 . . . Godwits season 2011-12 . . . Spurting behaviour . . . . . MONDAY NOVEMBER 10 - 2014 - Nore Barn 10:00 - 57 Black-tailed Godwits, including 4 colour-ringed birds: B+GO - I have no previous records of this bird. Recently colour-ringed maybe? W+WN - Regular winter in Emsworth since 2010. 4th sighting this season. WO+LW flag - Ringed in Iceland 2010. Regular wintering in Emsworth. 5th sighting this season. ROL+RLR - Ringed in Kent 2009. Regular winter in Emsworth. 5th sighting this season. Just 1 Dunlin feeding with the godwits - How often do I find that? I managed to capture two of the colour-ringed godwits feeding close together. B+GO and ROL+RLR THURSDAY OCTOBER 30 - 2014 Nore Barn Malcolm Phillips went down to Nore Barn early this afternoon on a rising tide. He got a number of interesting photos of Black-tailed Godwits. First here is one of the regular juvenile godwits with a prey it has just caught. Looks like some sort of worm. Malcolm also got a couple of shots of a godwit stretching its wings. The second one is particularly dramatic with the bird completely disappearing beneath its outstretched wings. Of particular interest for me was the fact that this godwit had a single metal ring on its lower left leg. This is shown well on Malcolm's second photo. I am very familiar with the regular Black-tailed Godwit colour ringing schemes in which a variety of coloured leg ring combinations are used to identify the birds. But have never come across a bird with just a single metal ring like this one. I shall ask Pete Potts about it. TUESDAY OCTOBER 28 - 2014 Emsworth Harbour (east) - from the marina seawall. 09:45 to 10:15. Tide was good for bird watching with 4 hours to high water, but sun was too bright. Black-tailed Godwits 74 with two colour-ringed birds: WO+LW flag, W+WN - shown in photo,   MONDAY OCTOBER 27 - 2014 Emsworth Harbour I started at the millpond seawall at 10:00. From there I went along to Nore Barn. The tide rising to high water at 13:00. Harbour filling rapidly. Bright sunshine with a pretty brisk south westerly wind blowing. A cluster of 52 Black-tailed Godwits were gathered on one of the remaining green mudflats in the eastern harbour accompanied by a few Turnstone. I found two colour-ringed birds, both having been seen in Emsworth previously this season: G+WR and WO+LW flag. Another 13 Black-tailed Godwits were at Nore Barn with one colour-ringed bird: ROL+RLR. This is an 'old friend' of ours. Ringed on 27-Oct-08, it has been a regular winter visitor to Emsworth Harbour over the past 5 winters. This was the first sighting of the 2014-15 season and our 73rd sighting in total. Here is a photo of ROL+RLR taken in 2011 FRIDAY OCTOBER 24 - 2014 Nore Barn 09:30 - Tide rising to high water in 3 hours. The regular birds did not settle in the stream this morning due to human disturbance, but they were all in the vicinity, ie Spotted Redshank, Greenshank G+GL, two juvenile Black-tailed Godwits, Little Egret, Lapwing and Common Redshank. I counted 28 Black-tailed Godwits, including one colour-ringed: WO+LW flag. This bird was ringed as a male chick in north Iceland by Ruth Croger and Pete on 13th July 2010, which makes it 4 years old. It is easily recognised as it has a tiny 'flag' attached to the white ring on the right leg. It has been a regular early wintering bird (Oct-Dec) in Emsworth Harbour in each year since it was ringed, presumably moving on elsewhere for the rest of the winter. This was my 3rd sighting in Emsworth this season. WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 22 - 2014 Nore Barn 14:30-15:00 - Tide falling. The Spotted Redshank was in the stream feeding with its regular companions the now colour-ringed Greenshank G+GL and the Little Egret. I was very surprised to find not one, but two juvenile Black-tailed Godwits feeding in the stream for the first time ever. Strangely, there was no sign of any adult Black-tailed Godwits while I was there; we have had only one juvenile in the stream for the past week or so. This must be a very good feeding area. Here is one I caught preening, showing well the pale fringes on its wing scapulars. TUESDAY OCTOBER 21 - 2014 Nore Barn 14:15 - 14:45 - About 4 hours after high water, so the tide was pretty well right out. There was a gale blowing, though fortunately it was north westerly. The worst winds at Nore Barn are southerly and south westerly which blow right in your face. Northerlies are fine as one gets the shelter of the woods and bushes. The first thing I saw when I got to the end of Warblington Road was a good flock of 68 Black-tailed Godwits feeding on the mudflats, the most I have seen here this season. Great to see them back and hopefully, they should be regular here until at least the end of the year. Despite the sun glinting off the wet mudflats I managed to read four colour-ringed birds, including two 'old friends'. G+WR - My 5th sighting of this very regular Emsworth wintering bird (104th sighting), but the first time at Nore Barn. This is the same pattern as last year when it started off feeding in Emsworth Harbour (east) before moving to Nore Barn in late October. W+WN - Another common Emsworth wintering bird, but my first sighting this season. Maybe it has come via Kent as it did last year? Ringed at Farlington in 2010 this was my 54th sighting of it in Emsworth. As noted in previous years the white ring on left leg looks yellow. O+OL - Photo. This was my second sighting in Emsworth this season. The first was in the eastern harbour in August. Ringed on Thorney Island 26-Jun-05 as a first summer male (juvenile). It has been seen occasionally in Emsworth over the years, but is not a regular winterer. This was only the 8th Emsworth sighting. R+LG - Photo. This was my 5th sighting of R+LG in Emsworth, though the first this season. I saw it four times in early winter at Nore Barn last year. SUNDAY OCTOBER 19 - 2014 Godwits in Emsworth Yesterday Peter Milinets-Raby went along the seawall around Emsworth Harbour with the family for a walk (4:30pm ). He spotted a flock of 86 Black-tailed Godwits resting on the stream entrance in front of the town. He only had binoculars, but could see at least four birds with rings. I decided to have a look this afternoon with the scope at about 13:30 on a falling tide. I found a flock of 58 Black-tailed Godwits in the same area that Peter had seen them yesterday, feeding on the green weed shore near the town. I went through them all with the scope, but only found one colour-ringed bird, but a very old friend - G+WR. G+WR has been one of the most frequently recorded colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwits in Emsworth Harbour. In fact, this was our 103rd sighting since the bird was ringed on Farlington Marshes in Sep 2008 as an adult male and our first since 18-Aug-14. It will be at least 7 years old. O+RO - ran it fairly close with 96 sightings, but again this bird has not been seen here since Jan 2011 and it is probably deceased. It was ringed on Thorney Island in June 2005 as first summer bird ie hatched in 2004. Also in the harbour were 16 Brent Geese with one juvenile. W+GO - is the Emsworth record holder with 113 sightings, but I have not seen it since Sep 2012, so I fear the worst. It was ringed at Farlington in Oct 1995 as an adult so it was at least 19 years old when I last saw it in Emsworth! This must be close to a longevity record? Pete Potts says "The UK longevity record for islandica Black-tailed Godwit is c.23 years old i.e. 23 years between date of ringing and recovery. The Dutch hold the record with a limosa bird I think which is c.30-32 years old! However, we hope to beat the UK record in the next few years as our first birds were marked in the early-mid-1990s with sizeable catches in 1995 and esp. 1998. We made the first catch in Iceland in spring 2000 so again in a few years' time they will start producing new records with luck."