麻豆社

Black-tailed godwits are an elegant long legged bird about the size of a pigeon. In the summer they are found in the arctic where the Icelandic race of this species then migrates to Britain to spend the winter in relatively warmer weather.

For this week's Living World Brett Westwood relives programmes from the Living World archives with an episode from 2013 which sees Chris Sperring visit a private estate in Hampshire where 2000 black tailed godwit visit their flooded water meadows along the River Avon in winter. Here Chris is guided by Pete Potts from Operation Godwit, on a very cold afternoon. Initially they view a few hundred godwits in the distance but with a bit of fieldwork and time they manage to get close enough to count leg rings on these birds, birds that Pete Potts will have ringed in Iceland. As the afternoon progresses more and more godwits come onto the flooded meadows until as the last light fades well over 2000 black tailed godwits could be seen wheeling over the landscape. In a few short months these birds will head back to Iceland and Pete explains to Chris the work he does for Operation Godwit and how it is connecting both conservation and communities.

Producer Andrew Dawes.