Simon described them as the avian equivalent of Cyd Charrisse. Only such a writer as he could come up with a turn of phrase that equated a Black winged Stilt to the female dancer in the 1952 production of ‘Singing in the Rain’. If you take a look at a few pictures of her and see the length of her legs you’ll see what he meant.
We were having a wander along the North Norfolk Coast taking in a few spring and passage migrants. By chance news reached us of two Black winged Stilts that had made landfall close to Well-next-the-Sea a few minutes earlier. Given we were so close it would have been rude not to pop in and see them; so we did. They were a pair. Male and female birds – the male is jet black on the back the female is slightly browner. They did a bit of wandering after we left but have since been seen back near Wells. I guess we’re in for another Norfolk breeding record. One of the (few) plus points of climate change is that we get to experience some of the Mediterranean species as they move north following the temperature contours.
Letter From Norfolk 