Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa

The Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa, is a large and elegant wading bird belonging to the family Scolopacidae, instantly recognisable in flight by its striking black and white wing pattern and bold black tail band. In breeding plumage, adults are richly coloured with deep rufous-orange on the head and breast, while winter birds are a more subdued grey-brown. The long, straight bill is used to probe deeply into soft mud for invertebrates. Once a widespread breeding bird in Britain, the species declined dramatically through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries due to drainage and agricultural intensification, and now breeds at only a handful of sites. Suffolk’s estuaries – particularly the Stour and Orwell – support important wintering and passage flocks. Image: © Edwyn Anderton, Flickr.

Find out more: RSPB, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, iNaturalist