Bar-tailed Godwit

🔍 Overview

Fairly common winter visitor and passage migrant. Elegant and slender, the Bar-tailed Godwit is a regular passage and winter visitor to Sussex’s coastal mudflats, especially around Goring Gap, Widewater, Worthing Beaches and Lower Adur Valley.

🪶 Key Identification Features

Size: Large wader (37–41 cm)
Plumage: Warm brown and buff; breeding males show rich chestnut underparts
Distinctive Marks: Slightly upturned bill, barred tail
Bill: Long, slightly upturned
Tail: Distinctly barred
Flight: Fast with pointed wings and white rump

🗺️ Habitat & Distribution

Seen in tidal estuaries and saltmarshes. Most common in autumn and winter; smaller numbers on spring passage.

🎶 Voice & Behaviour

Flight call is a soft, bubbling “weeka-weeka.” Often seen probing deep in mud for food.

🍴 Diet

Feeds on worms, molluscs, and crustaceans, extracted from estuarine mud.

📸 Birding Tip

Use a scope at low tide from public hides or shore paths around Chichester or Pagham Harbour. Look for the distinctive barred tail in flight.