Black Winged Stilts Success - WWT Steart Marshes

The opportunity to work with the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust is always one to jump for. Having worked with them since their Flight of The Swans expedition back in 2016, WWT has been conservation charity we strive to help where possible. When murmurs from colleague and friend Sam Walker started to come through about black winged stilts breeding at Steart Marshes, we came up with a project to hopefully benefit the relatively new reserve, highlighting how it’s changed and show a positive conservation story through this charismatic birds.

We are working on a long-term project at Steart Marshes, I can’t wait to see how this reserve ebbs and flows with the changing seasons.

A huge thank you to Alys and the Steart team for being so helpful during this project. I can’t wait to get back out on the reserve soon as Autumn takes hold, I’m certain each season has highlights to show and a different ambience to give off. Here is a tiny snippet of what summer felt like during my time there.

The stilts were tricky to film, being so alert and good parents as well as being dainty birds on a remote section of the wetland. Thankfully though persistence paid off with fascinating protective behaviour, as the parents sort to see off any potential threat to their chicks, from herons to marsh harriers, nothing was too big for these doting parents.

To find out more about the reserve please visit their website here - https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/steart-marshes

Ben Cherrysteart marshes, wwt, wildfowl & wetlands trust, wildfowl, wetland, wetland conservation, wildlife camera operator, wildlife film, wildlife filmmaking, somerset, stilt, black winged stilt, conservation success, UK wetland