By Paul Homewood
h/t Joe Public/Ian Magness
One of the UK’s rarest birds is raising a family in Kent after escaping record temperatures further south, nature experts say.
Four black-winged stilt chicks have recently fledged in Worth Marshes, near Sandwich, after a pair of the birds arrived from Africa in the spring.
It is believed the species is flying further north as climate change causes its natural habitat in countries like Spain to become too hot.
"The wetland habitat is so incredibly important for them to breed," said Vicki Peaple, a warden for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in Worth Marshes.
The nature reserve has been especially prepared to welcome black-winged stilts, which wildlife presenter Bill Oddie named "one of the world’s most elegant birds".
New water control structures have been put in that hold the water in the winter and control levels over spring and the summer.
"It’s been a big, big change but it’s produced some wonderful results," said Izzy Donovan, senior site manager.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5138mvyv51o#
Climate change?
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the black-winged stilt has often visited these shores in the past:
Coward 1926
Witherby 1946
.
Bannerman & Lodge 1961
Birds of Wiltshire 2007
As for “escaping record temperatures further south”, given that the birds arrived in spring, I can only say they must have seen a more reliable weather forecast than the Met Office’s 3-Month Outlook!
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
July 23, 2023 at 11:24AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 