Black-winged stilts - becoming regular visitors to Norfolk
The black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family (Recurvirostridae). In the United Kingdom, the black-winged stilt is a regular (spring overshoot) vagrant, occasionally remaining to breed and seemingly becoming more commonplace in recent years.
For many years 'Sammy the Stilt' was a regular feature at the RSPB Titchwell reserve in North Norfolk and more recently several individuals have made an appearance at the NWT Hickling Reserve. Last weekend 4 stilts were present at NWT Hickling and one at Denver Sluice on the River Ouse. It seems ironic, that only a week before I was watching this same species in the tropics, on a visit to Salinas de Pedra de Lume in the Cape Verde Islands and before that (2012) in South Luangwa, Zambia and (2015) Mkuze Game Reserve in South Africa.
For an article on 'Sammy the Stilt' see:
https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/titchwellmarsh/b/titchwellmarsh-blog/posts/gone-but-never-forgotten
Also... an article on the BBC News website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4722601.stm
