Speaking about the bird’s arrival, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s Head of Communications Erin McDaid said: “The bird has caused real excitement. It arrived over the weekend and was still on site on Monday 2^nd so a number of people have been able to see and photograph it. It’s a very rare visitor for Nottinghamshire, the last one was recorded in 1974 and they are still quite a rarity across the UK.”

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, which cares for the huge nature reserve alongside the River Idle just outside Retford, was already looking forward to welcoming visitors as part of a special Explore North Notts weekend on September 14^th & 15^th is now expecting more interest in the reserve as a result. Erin continued: “We were already gearing up to welcome many new visitors next weekend but we now expect even more people to be aware of the reserve. Whilst we can’t promise anything as rare as a black-winged stilt there will be plenty of birds to see. September is an exciting month at the reserve, as it’s when autumn migration gets under way for many birds. Major rarities and scarce birds can turn up anywhere, as was proved this weekend.”