Graham Appleton

The oldest UK Black-tailed Godwit will be 30 when (if?) it returns from Iceland at the end of the 2026 breeding season. It's a colour-ringed bird that is seen regulalrly, quite often by observers that were born several years after it was ringed.

For comparison, the longevity record for BTO (Ireland and UK) Common Ringed Plover is 21y 10m 12d (from ringing to latest report).
More longevity-records here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/w...
@btobirds.bsky.social
#ornithology

Do you have tracking data for waders?
You can help new "Global Relevance of Protected Areas" project:
www.globalwader.org/collaboratio...
To learn more about how shorebird tracking is aiding conservation, check out this blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
#ConservationScience🌍

Hi Darren. Yes - waders do 'egg dump'. The different one in the picture is a dummy egg, used to increase clutch size in this study. Here's an Icelandic Ringed Plover nest with five real eggs. More in the blog.

Four eggs ✅
Five eggs ❌
Chicks from five-egg Ringed Plover nests are far less successful.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/03/06/f...
WaderTales blog #156
#ornithology

Redshank chick

Curlew v Forestry
Relevant WaderTales blogs.
Estonia
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/03/16/k...
Iceland
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
Scottish peatlands
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/t...
Recreating wader habitat
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/16/p...
#ornithology

Greenshanks will soon be returning to Scottish breeding sites.
Unlike their cousins that breed in eastern Russia, they won't have flown far.
Research by Highland Ringing Group, supported with £ from @scottishbirding.bsky.social.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/03/23/m...
#BirdingScotland

Which Oystercatchers stay in Iceland, and deal with short days and much colder temperatures, and which ones cross the Atlantic?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/w... 🎂6️⃣
Thanks to colour-ring readers!
#ornithology
p.s. update from 2021
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/o...
Verónica Méndez et al

Godwits in, Godwits out: springtime on the Washes It’s all change in the East Anglian Washes in April, as a small number of limosa Black-tailed Godwits return to breed while thousands of islandica godwits are preparing to depart. The Ouse and Nene…

They'll have been busy feeding! Feathers to moult and fat needed for the trip to Iceland. These islandica birds are on later schedules to the limosa that breed at Welney. More here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/g...

We met up with LG-YE, one of the ProjectGodwit Black-tailed Godwits, in Portugal last week (not in photo 👇).
It will soon be back in the Nene or Welney Washes.
There were 50,000 godwits in the Tagus rice fields!
More here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/03/04/b... 🎂6️⃣
#ornithology

Waders rely on networks of migrations sites.
Blog about important paper by Martin Beal (@amigodeaves.bsky.social) that combines ringing, colour-ringing and tracking data for Black-tailed Godwits.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
Good to finally meet Martin last week!
#ConservationScience🌍

Why count shorebirds? A tale from Portugal The Sado Estuary is one of Portugal’s most important wetlands – a key link in the chain of sites connecting Africa and the Arctic, on the East Atlantic Flyway. In a paper in Waterbirds, João Belo a…

Counting waders.
Finally met author of paper behing WaderTales blog #135
wadertales.wordpress.com/2023/02/14/w...
Dr João Belo
Looking forward to more blogs from newly examined thesis.
#ConservationScience🌍

10 years ago, Mary Colwell started a 500 mile walk across Ireland & UK in support of Curlews.
"I liked something about the way Curlew lived in the world, sang to the world, and drifted through the world with a light touch."
Blog about her book:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/c...
#ornithology

Ireland's Curlew Crisis
WaderTales blog from 1 March 2019
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/03/01/i...
Still a crisis, sadly.
#ornithology

Why do advances in timing of breeding occur more in short-distance migrants? Latest wadertales blog: wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/m...
on our new @ecol-evol.bsky.social paper about Icelandic waders: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#ornithology

There is also a wadertales blog about this paper: wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...

Waders in a changing climate?
New WaderTales blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/m...
To coincide with paper published on Saturday:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#Iceland
#ConservationScience🌍

Ireland's Curlew Crisis
WaderTales blog from 1 March 2019
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/03/01/i...
Still a crisis, sadly.
#ornithology

Why do chicks squeak?
Quirky blog from 1 March 2022:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/03/01/c... 🎂4️⃣
Research by Kristal Kostoglou and colleagues
#ornithology

Mission Impossible? Counting Iceland’s wintering Oystercatchers If Norwegian Oystercatchers migrate south and west for the winter, how is it that thousands of Oystercatchers can adopt a stay-at-home strategy in Iceland, which lies at a higher latitude than most…

I guess that the logical next step is for more Icelandic waders to become partial migrants - like Oystercatchers:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/06/12/m...

Can all waders take advantage of Iceland's warmer springs?
Blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/m...
Paper by Verónica Méndez et al:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#climatechange

Latest Wadertales blog on why timing of breeding advances more in short-distance migrants: wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/m..., from neat new @ecol-evol.bsky.social paper led by Verónica Méndez using 16 years of data on Icelandic waders: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#ornithology

It pays not to migrate too far!
Waders that winter close to Iceland have more flexibility to take advantage of warm conditions.
Blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/m...
Paper by Verónica Méndez et al:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#ornithology

Will this spring be wet enough for a Great Snipe?
Recent paper from Poland:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Blog about these AMAZING high-flying migrants:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/06/30/f...
#ornithology

Composite image - a feeding flock of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits and image of front page of new blog.

Social learning in Black-tailed Godwits - where to find food?
Summary of new paper in @asab.org journal by Josh Nightingale is summarised in this blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/l...
Paper:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#ConservationScience🌍

Spring migration thread 👇
Focus on waders in the UK.
#birds

Are you ready for spring?
The first Oystercatchers are crossing the Atlantic, Black-tailed Godwits are heading north, Scottish Greenshanks are moving onto territories - and so much more!
Quick summary of wader migration:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2017/07/20/w...
#ornithology

Stone-curlews are returning to East Anglian pig fields.
What other habitats are important and how can they be created?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/02/26/g... 🎂5️⃣
Paper by Rob Hawkes et al
#ornithology

There are only about 100 Black-tailed Godwits breeding in England.
Many of these 'limosa' birds have been to Africa for the winter.
More here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/03/04/b...
#ornithology

On this day six years ago, I was writing about Foxes and Curlew in East Anglia ... and sheep too:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/02/24/c...
Research by @natbzielonka.bsky.social and colleagues
#ornithology