Sir Thomas Browne writing in the seventeenth century noted that godwits "were accounted the daintiest dish in England."
From 1941 to 1947 there was a co-located Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm training station called HMS Godwit, which specialised in instrument and blind landing technologies.
Mr McSweeney is involved in BirdWatch Ireland and organises the school Garden Bird Survey, and he also is involved in Operation Godwit.