Good Godwit 17th May 2025

Shortly after my return from Shetland news came through of a very rare bird being discovered on the morning of Friday the 16th of May at Titchfield Haven NNR, which lies by The Solent in Hampshire. 

The bird in question was a female Hudsonian Godwit, referred to as a 'Hudwit', another example of birder slang, a trend which incidentally I loathe. Why not call them by their proper name?

This bird will be the sixth to be recorded in Britain and already being confirmed as still present on a sunny Saturday by the seaside would be very popular and draw a good crowd. Hudsonian Godwits come from North America breeding  in scattered populations from western and southern Alaska through arctic and sub arctic Canada to the south shore of  Hudson Bay.They spend the winter on both coasts of southern South America.

Having already, in 2015 seen a female in Britain  at Shapwick Heath in Somerset, a  mild debate ensued with my inner self as to whether I should go and see this latest one. Enticingly Hampshire is a lot closer than Shetland and a lot cheaper to get to, half a tank of fuel would do it.

I put it to the back of my mind but on Saturday morning I sent a text to Badger enquiring if he fancied accompanying me to see the godwit. It had been quite a while since we last went birding together and Badger being the easy going person he is, it would be a pleasure to have his company and catch up on the news. In fact it would be just like old times.

A text duly arrived back in the affirmative so I set off to collect Badger who conveniently lives in Abingdon which is by the A34 and the route we would take to the reserve

A brilliant sunny day set us in a good mood and we chatted away the miles as we headed south.An hour and a half later we arrived by The Solent and parking the car on a convenient verge made a short walk to the reserve centre to pay our £5.00 entry fees. Another short walk along the seafront took us to the entry gate manned by a volunteer  to whom we showed our natty pink stickers as evidence we had paid the entry fee and were granted access to the reserve.

The volunteer told us the godwit was currently on view right in front of the Meon Shore Hide, which handily was the nearest hide. Another short walk and we gained entry of sorts to a very crowded hide.It was literally elbow room only but people were coming and going, so we soon managed to get a space and a seat and be able to look out to the South Scrape that lay in front of the hide.

The sun was a bit bright but we could see a number of godwits feeding up to their bellies in the  shallow water, probing and ducking below the water with their long bills as only godwits can, their heads for the most part immersed underwater.

The Hudsonian Godwit was feeding with two or three Black tailed Godwits at a reasonable distance from the hide but conveniently right in front. 

The Hudsonian Godwit feeding with a Black tailed Godwit

The bird itself looked markedly different to its companions, appearing darker and more heavily marked  due to a distinctly mottled brown back and chestnut infused, closely barred flanks. 

The crucial diagnostic identification feature are the black axillaries and lesser/median underwing coverts which can be seen as the bird takes flight. The same plumage features are white on a Black tailed Godwit.The bird flew briefly a couple of times and I managed to see the diagnostic black 'armpits' axillaries and the narrower white wing bar on each of the upperwings.

In the bright sunlight it was not always easy to separate it through the camera lens from the other godwits but various features enabled one to identify it, such as noticeable white supercilia on its grizzled, grey brown head and on this bird a convenient patch of white on each side where the rear flanks exposed the white base of the tail, 

Its long bill was also noticeably bright pink on the upper part and black on the lower half.

We watched from the hide, Badger taking some video while I took far too many photos, struggling with the light, heat haze off the water and constant vibrations in the hide as folk moved about. 

For the most part it fed constantly with one interlude where it flew to the far end of the scrape to loaf on the shore with a host of Black headed Gulls, some Avocets and a bonus Little Gull.

Noise, both within the hide and without was a constant accompaniment to the couple of hours we spent on the reserve.The Black headed Gulls keeping up a never ending strident harsh squawking, while breeding Avocets chased off any gull that came too close to their nest with short liquid calls of irritation.

From within the hide various people related their nightmare journeys to get to the reserve, involving traffic jams and closed motorways, others recounted past birding holidays, yet others previous visits to the reserve to see rare birds or gave  general advice as to which godwit was the Hudsonian to anyone who would listen.It all goes into the mix but there comes a time when enough is enough.

Badger had got his long delayed lifer, I had seen a second Hudsonian Godwit in Britain and both of us had by mutual consent enjoyed a lovely day out birding at the seaside.

No complaints from me.