URGENT APPEAL

There are fewer than 50 breeding pairs of black-tailed godwits left in the UK. Unless we act now, it will soon be too late.

Donate now to save them.

Please give whatever you can to protect godwits and wetlands

Minimum £5

The clock is ticking

With fewer than 50 UK breeding pairs of black-tailed godwits left in the UK, these spectacular wading birds could disappear as soon as 2050 – within a generation.

Habitat destruction, predators and climate change have pushed godwits to the brink. It’s easy to focus on tigers and rhinos when we think about wildlife at risk. But UK breeding black-tailed godwits face a very real threat of extinction.

We have to act now – and we have a plan.

Support our world-first breeding programme

We know what’s needed to save the UK’s black-tailed godwits – but we urgently need donations to put our plan into action.

We’ve been busy saving godwits eggs from floods and predators and raising chicks using incubators. Now we’ve set up the world’s first black-tailed godwit conservation breeding programme – and we need your help to keep it running and create godwit breeding sites at wetlands across the UK.

By rearing and releasing godwits nationwide, we can save this precious bird from being lost forever. Please donate now to save our godwits and our wetlands.

How your donation will make a difference

£10 could buy leg rings we can use to track a black-tailed godwit for life

£20 could run incubators to keep 40 godwit eggs warm for a week

£100 could pay for a screening to make sure a godwit is healthy before it’s released

"I have filmed the godwit project at WWT Welney for Springwatch and The One Show and recently visited the next stage, the Godwit Futures project at WWT Slimbridge. It’s really exciting to see how it’s developing. WWT have the ambition to build a world first conservation breeding programme for these black-tailed godwits, enabling more chicks to be released safely into the wild and boosting populations. But this goal needs support. So please do support the appeal if you can. Thank you."

Michaela Strachan

Together, we can save breeding godwits from extinction in the UK

Please give whatever you can to protect godwits and wetlands

Minimum £5

Godwit Futures works closely with the National Black-tailed Godwit Working Group with members from WWT, RSPB and Natural England and the establishment of the captive population was a joint effort between all three organisations.