Conservationists save godwit eggs

Upstream housing developments and climate change forced some Fenland birds to nest in inappropriate places, experts said this week.

But thanks to conservationists, 32 eggs, belonging to rare black-tailed godwits, found buried in farmland mud were rescued and put into incubation units at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s Welney Wetland Centre.

April downpours forced the birds to desert the Fens in East Anglia, when the Ouse and Nene Washes became submerged. The washes were overwhelmed, conservationists said, because of the changing climate and increased run-off caused by housing developments upstream.

Leigh Marshall, centre manager at Welney, said: “Flooding traditionally used to occur in the winter, but we are seeing an increasing shift into the spring, affecting two wetlands which are the most important sites for breeding waders in the UK.”