Conservationists and keen cyclists Jen and Mark Smart may have hung up their cycling helmets, emptied the panniers and given their leg muscles a well-deserved rest after they finished their Funds for Waders cycling fundraiser last week, but there’s still plenty to say about the Black-tailed Godwits that were behind this challenge.
Readers of the previous blog from Project Godwit will recall that Jen and Mark wanted to visit all 11 nature reserves in England where head-started Black-tailed Godwits reared and released by Project Godwit have been spotted before migrating to Africa. The dynamic duo took on this endurance challenge of cycling 600 miles in 8 days to raise funds for Project Godwit and the International Wader Study Group (which gives out small grants each year to support wader projects around the world).
DAY 1
Nature reserve: WWT Steart Marshes, Somerset
Head-started Godwit spotted here: Nelson
Jen and Mark kicked off their adventure departing from WWT Steart Marshes in Somerset – where head-started Godwit Nelson was once spotted. This male Godwit visited Steart Marshes in July 2017. He was one of the first head-started birds to be released as a chick at WWT Welney in June 2017 – therefore it was quite a surprise to the team at Project Godwit to discover this youngster on the other side of the country, at just one month old! Nelson spent the breeding season this year on the Ouse Washes, after pairing with Lady, another Godwit head-started in 2017. The pair have met up each spring for the last three years.
DAY 2
Nature reserve: Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve, Hampshire.
Head-started Godwit spotted here: Morgan
The second day of the challenge took Jen and Mark to Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve in Hampshire. The Godwit to have been spotted here is Morgan, seen in July 2018 and again two years later recently in July. Morgan is a male Godwit who was head-started and released at WWT Welney in June 2018. Since then he has been regularly spotted each spring at RSPB Ouse Washes in Cambridgeshire.
DAY 3
No ‘Godwit stops’ to a reserve where Godwits have been spotted today – but with dreadful stormy weather over 72 very hilly and soggy miles, plus a puncture, Jen and Mark had enough to contend with. This wasn’t enough, however, to deter Jen and Mark from doing a radio interview over the phone for BBC Radio Somerset whilst sheltering under an underpass nearly Crawley. Who ever said conservation wasn’t glamourous?
DAY 4
Nature reserve: Kent WT Oare Marshes
Head-started Godwit spotted here: Hope
By Day 4 Jen and Mark were at the halfway point of their cycling fundraising challenge and visited the Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserve Oare Marshes. The head-started Godwit spotted at this site is Hope – head-started and released at WWT Welney in 2019. A mere two months later Hope turned up at Oare Marshes in Kent in August 2019. Hope hasn’t been reported to Project Godwit since last year (and therefore doesn’t have her own profile page yet), but as most young Black-tailed Godwits don’t usually return from migration to the UK to breed until the age of two years, it’s not unusual to have not received any recent sightings of this Godwit. Fingers crossed Hope will be back at the project sites in the Fens next year.
DAY 5
Nature reserve: RSPB Old Hall Marshes, Essex
Head-started Godwits spotted here: Lady & Manea
Next along the route was RSPB Old Hall Marshes nature reserve in Essex. It was two-for-the-price-of-one for this Godwit stop, as siblings Lady and Manea have both been seen here at Old Hall Marshes, spotted together in July 2017.
Both Manea (male) and Lady (a female, unsurprisingly) were both head-started as chicks in June 2017 at WWT Welney. Lady spent the breeding season this year at the Ouse Washes (with Nelson), moving between WWT Welney and the RSPB Pilot Project site. The last reported sighting of Manea was in April 2019 at WWT Welney.
DAY 6
1st Stop
Nature reserve: Suffolk WT Trimley Marshes
Head-started Godwits spotted here: Fenn & Tipps
It was a two-stop day for Jen and Mark and a hat-trick for ‘Godwit of the Day’. First stop was at the Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve Trimley Marshes, where head-started Godwits Fenn and Tipps have both been seen. Fenn was head-started at WWT Welney in June 2019 and spotted a month later here in July, while Tipps was head-started in June 2017 and seen in July 2017.
2nd Stop
Nature reserve: RSPB Boyton Marshes, Suffolk
Head-started Godwit spotted here: Chiney
Next stop along the 600-mile route was RSPB Boyton Marshes nature reserve in Suffolk – where Chiney was seen during July and August 2019. Chiney is a 2019 head-started Godwit who hasn’t been reported back at the project sites in the Fens of East Anglia as yet.
DAY 7
1st Stop
Nature reserve: Norfolk WT Cley Marshes
Head-started Godwits spotted here: Swampy, Anouk, Benwick & Chopstick.
The penultimate day for Jen and Mark and another challenging one. Firstly, major mechanical failure struck with Jen’s bike – meaning the rest of the day had to be ridden with a single speed conversion, then Jen and Mark were buffeted along the North Norfolk coast by 45 mph winds!
First stop was Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley Marshes where many head-started Godwits have been spotted since Project Godwit launched in 2017: Swampy, Anouk, Benwick and Chopstick.
2nd Stop
Nature reserve: RSPB Titchwell, Norfolk
Head-started Godwits spotted here: Benwick, Mo, Wedge, Gold, Chopstick, Chip & Rosti
Next stop was RSPB Titchwell nature reserve, where head-started Godwits Benwick, Mo, Wedge, Gold, Chopstick, Chip and Rosti have all been spotted. Many head-started Godwits have spent time at these sites in North Norfolk in the autumn, feeding up before migration. Some stay for weeks before journeying south to West Africa, Spain and Portugal, demonstrating the importance of these coastal sites for migratory waders.
We are grateful to all the volunteers around the UK who report sightings to Project Godwit.
DAY 8
1st Stop
Nature reserve: WWT Welney, Cambridgeshire
Head-started godwits spotted here: All 112 reared and released to date
Another puncture to fix before departing for the final day of Jen and Mark’s Funds for Waders cycling fundraising challenge. Day 8 brought them back to the Fens, visiting the three project sites of Project Godwit where the lives of all the head-started birds begin. WWT Welney is where all the head-starting happens: godwit eggs are incubated and chicks are reared in specialised pens before release at fledging age, to get them through their most vulnerable time of life.
2nd Stop
Nature reserve: RSPB Ouse Washes, Cambridgeshire
Head-started Godwits spotted here: Too many to mention!
Next along the route is RSPB Ouse Washes nature reserve, where this year the head-started Godwits really boosted the breeding population. There were no pairs breeding here in 2017 – but this year there were 6 pairs. Head-started female Earith, who features on the back of the Project Godwit cycling jersey, nests at this site and in three years has fledged six chicks.
3rd and Final Stop
Nature reserve: RSPB Nene Washes, Cambridgeshire
Head-started Godwits spotted here: Too many to mention!
RSPB Nene Washes nature reserve is a befitting end point for Jen and Mark to cross the finish line, as this is where the eggs are sourced each breeding season. Collecting the eggs early in the season encourages the adult breeding pair to lay another clutch. 112 Godwits have been head-started and released since the first year of the project in 2017, to boost the number of Black-tailed Godwits breeding in the UK.
600 miles cycled in 8 days, visiting 11 nature reserves and over £6000 raised so far for wader conservation! To all who have donated, thank you so much from all the team at Project Godwit.
There’s still time to donate to the Funds for Waders cycling fundraiser!
justgiving.com/fundraising/fundsforwaders
Thank you for your support.
