Rare chicks under 24hour watch feared dead

A pair of rare chicks are feared to have been eaten by a stoat, despite being kept under daily 24-hour watch.

The team of 25 minders kept a 10day vigil on the black-winged stilt nest over fears foxes or badgers would steal their valuable eggs. The striking black and white birds rarely nest in the UK.

Staff had been overjoyed after the eggs hatched following a 230-hour surveillance operation at the 300-acre wetland in Norfolk.

Mark Simpson, of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, said: “A bird predator or stoat could have possibly been responsible.”