Wading black winged stilt

This elegant and noisy wading bird has, as its name suggests, exceedingly long legs. The black-winged stilt has a wide distribution, but numbers in some places are declining because the wetland habitats where they live are being lost and degraded by human activity. Although the species is not currently listed as threatened, populations in some countries are more vulnerable to extinction than others.

The black winged stilt differs from the black necked stilt rather predictably because they don't have black necks - although both species have black wings.

HABITAT
Breeds around shallow wetlands, especially coastal lagoons, saltpans and estuaries.

WHERE TO FIND BLACK WINGED STILTS
Southern and eastern Europe, the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, central and southern Asia, northern, central and eastern Africa and Madagascar.

BLACK WINGED STILTS IN ENGLAND
A pair of rare black-winged stilts has just been discovered in Cheshire, many miles from their normal breeding areas in mainland Europe.

This is only the seventh time stilts have attempted to nest in the UK, having made their home near Marbury Country Park, less than a kilometre from Northwich town centre, Cheshire.

For further details on where to find them follow this link: http://www.rspb.org.uk/brilliant/sites/cheshirestilts/index.asp