Stepping stones of the LIFE Godwit Flyway project will be recorded in a documentary film that is to be broadcasted on public television in Portugal by 2029, at the latest. For this purpose, the responsible TV crew visited the Lower Elbe and Lake Dümmer areas at the end of the breeding season. They succeeded in capturing their first footage of Black-tailed Godwits. At Lake Dümmer, they were able to film young families foraging for insects. Apart from bird scenes, they also aimed to document the work of the project team in action. At the Lower Elbe, they filmed the team using drones to locate the nests.
The film intends to let the TV audience accompany the Black-tailed Godwit conservationists at work. The footage shot at Dümmer and the Lower Elbe lays a valuable foundation for this. The film crew will revisit the breeding sites next year in early springtime to obtain footage on courtship, nest site selection or copulation. Meanwhile they will be active at the Tagus estuary in Portugal and record footage at this very important staging site. This material will include the measures implemented at rice fields, lagoons and saltpans that are also part of the LIFE Godwit Flyway project.
