Hull urban birds. 33. Black-tailed Godwit

I took a long walk today to Albert Dock and returned by the river Hull and the Museums Quarter. I got to the River Hull at low tide. As I was counting the Redshanks, scattered along the exposed muddy flats just north of Myton Bridge, I saw an unexpected wader: a Black-tailed Godwit, a species I've only seen once in Hull before. It is a very elegant wader, with long legs and straight, long bill. It breeds in wet meadows and can be found wintering and in passage in wetlands and estuary mudflats and creeks, feeding on invertebrates such as worms, crabs and small clams, which it can pick up from deep in the mud. In flight, they have striking black and white wings and black tail.

Status and distribution in Hull 

The Humber is of international importance as a passage and wintering area for this species, and the 4th area in the UK. The birds migrating through and wintering in the UK mainly come from Iceland and Scandinavia. The Black-tailed Godwit has increased in the UK as a wintering bird since lows in the mid 1970s mainly due to the Icelandic race of the species, but it is very rare as a breeding bird, with just 53 pairs. Roosting and post-breeding moult sites include Paull Holme Strays, just on the edge of Hull and they can be seen feeding around Saltend during passage in good numbers. There are very few recent records in the Hull area, my only ones before were in February and March 2018 on mudflats by P&O Ferry terminal. coincidentally, Erich Hediger had his first record in Cottingham today at the Cottingham and Orchard Park flood alleviation scheme, so maybe there is a small influx due to cold weather.

Black-tailed Godwit, 6 March 2018, P&O Ferry terminal.

The Black-tailed Godwit this morning, took some food to the water to wash it, and then had a good wash and preen session, before resuming feeding higher up on the mud, favouring a small creek, where it kept finding lugworms.

The end of the wash and preen session.

This photo shows the surprisingly flexible tip of the Black-tailed Godwit's bill: opening just the tip to pick a worm...

... and closing it, using the tip of the bill as a pincer.

Conservation and management

This is a rapidly declining species worldwide regarded as near threatened due to changing agricultural practices, mainly wetland drainage and intensification and regarded as endangered in the IUCN assessment. It is also a UK red-listed species, due to population declines, severe range declines and rarity as a breeder. It has been the focus of a targeted conservation program in the Ouse Washes to improve the breeding population and chick survival.                                   

More information

Broughton, R.K. 2002. Birds of the Hull area. Kingston Press. Hull, UK.

Stanbury, A., Eaton, M., Aebischer, N., Balmer, D. & Win, I. (2021) The status of our bird populations: the fifth Birds of Conservation Concern in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man and second IUCN Red List assessment of extinction risk for Great Britain. British Birds 114, 723–747.