Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus

Local status: Very rare vagrant

Most UK records are of spring overshoots and this is reflected in the two records from the York area. The trio in 1993 involved a pair and a first-summer male which travelled around before finally settling in Cheshire, where the adult pair bred unsuccessfully. The 2010 individual was first seen on 25th and 26th April at Nosterfield Gravel Pits near Ripon before heading east through the York area. A third record of a bird flying over York City Centre on 10th March 1995 is not listed by BBRC and is therefore not included in the official York record. The four in 2023 moved to St Aidans, one pair nesting unsuccessfully, while the other pair raised three young at Edderthorpe Flash.

Records:
2023: Bank Island late, 22nd May. pair left south east
2023: Heslington East, 6th May. four

2010: Clifton Backies, 26th April. One flew west early in the morning.
1993: Wheldrake Ings, 6th May. Three (two adults and a first-summer).