Project protecting rare birds in West Norfolk set to continue
155 birds have been reared in captivity and released by the project - as of August last year
A project working to conserve a rare species of shorebird in west Norfolk has been granted approval to continue by the borough council.
The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s (WWT) Welney reserve, near Downham Market, had applied for permission to continue using temporary enclosures to rear black-tailed godwits.
Along with the RSPB, the WWT has, since 2016, been completing a ‘headstarting’ project with the birds.
According to the trust, headstarting “involves collecting eggs from the wild, hatching the eggs in captivity, rearing the chicks until they are ready to fly, and then releasing them back into the wild”.
As of August 2021, 155 birds have been reared in captivity and released.
The project has been using three temporary enclosures to house the birds, as well as a temporary building for incubation and early-stage rearing.
The project was intended to run for five years, until the end of 2021, but the pandemic forced it to be paused in 2020.
The permission granted last week will enable the trust to keep the structures up until next year, completing the project’s five-year course.