Month: January 2023

The Avocet is an elegant black and white wader that is a bit of a picky prima donna with a snobby upturned bill. It returned to Britain in 1947 and, as a result of conservation, has flourished, even becoming the RSPB’s emblem in 1970. Avocets like coastal pools and marshes with small islands and little vegetation, so they can easily show off. In winter, many move south to overwinter in Spain and Portugal, though a few stay here.

An Avocet is black and white with a black crown, an upswept thin black bill, and long blue-grey legs. Mum and dad look the same though the youngsters have dark brown patches rather than black. Small fluffy Avocet chicks are unbelievably cute. In flight, their white wings have black wing tips and their legs stick out behind. Their call is a harsh “kluut kluut” and the Dutch word for an Avocet is a ‘Kluut’.

They eat small invertebrates like shrimps and larvae worms by sweeping their bills from side to side while wading in pools.

Avocets return to their breeding sites in March. They are social birds and nest in loose colonies near open water. The nest is made from bits of aquatic vegetation and they will build the nest up if the water level rises. Mum lays 2-4 eggs which hatch after 23 days and the chicks can soon feed themselves. Both parents share the incubation and childcare. Mum and dad will bravely see off any aerial predators, like Lesser Black-backed Gulls, by flying at them while calling loudly. The youngsters can fly 35 days later but the family will stick together for a few weeks. Between June and October, after breeding, mum and dad do their moult.

Avocets, or ‘Pied Avocets’ as they are known globally, are a great conservation success story. Victorian hunters and egg collectors drove them to extinction in the 19th century then, ironically, the flooding of coastal marshes during World War II to make invasion harder provided the perfect breeding habitat and prompted their return. The Avocet is specially protected as most of its breeding sites are now on nature reserves and it is very picky about where it lives. Their largest threat is sea level rise caused by global warming. There are 2,000 breeding pairs in Britain and the numbers swell to 7,500 as northern European birds arrive to overwinter here. The oldest ringed Avocet lived to the ripe old age of 24.

Their Latin name is ’recurvirostra avocetta’ where ’recurvirostra’ is derived from ’recurvus’ for ‘curved backwards’ and ’rostrum’ for ‘bill’. The ’avocetta’ is derived from the Venetian word ’avosetta’ which refers to the black and white outfits worn by Italian lawyers. A black and white bird with an upturned bill fits it perfectly. The English name Avocet is also derived from ’avocetta’, though another less posh name is the ‘yarwelp’ from its call. There are four subspecies of Avocets; the American Avocet, the Andean Avocet, the Australian Red-necked Avocet, and the Pied Avocet. Stilts, another long-legged wader, are from the same family as Avocets.

The Spotted Redshank is the more elegant, slightly larger, handsome cousin of the Redshank. Its shape is like a Redshank that has been stretched a bit. They are a passage migrant, best seen in the autumn and spring, with fewer than 100 overwintering in Britain. They can be found on reservoirs, inland lakes, coastal marshes, lagoons and creeks.

The Spotted Redshank’s dramatic summer plumage is almost entirely dark with white spotting on the wings and a white wedge on its back that shows clearly in flight together with a barred tail. It lacks the Redshank’s white wing bar. In winter, they have a grey back, paler underparts, long red legs and a prominent eye stripe with a black line through the eye. The long bill, unlike a Redshank’s, only has red on the lower part. The female is slightly larger than the male and has a slightly more muted plumage while the youngsters are spotted grey-brown. The Spotted Redshank’s call is a loud “chew-it”.

Spotted Redshanks eat small marine creatures, insects and fish by probing. They often wade into deep water and can submerge their entire head and even upend like a duck when looking for food. 

They breed on arctic bogs and swamps surrounded by woods. The nest is a shallow scrape lined with leaves. In May, mum lays 4 speckled dark green eggs and leaves dad to do most of the 23 day incubation, hanging around for less than a month and leaving before the eggs have even hatched! Like many ladies, she doesn’t like the cold and goes off to form flocks and enjoy shrimp cocktails with the other girls. Dad shows up a month later with the kids once they have fledged. They moult completely between July and September into their winter plumage and moult again between March and May into their summer finery.

The Spotted Redshank, like many waders, is threatened by habitat loss at its wintering grounds and on its migration routes due to coastal erosion or the drainage of wetlands. It is also vulnerable to pollution. Management of their stop-over sites is becoming increasingly important. As they are a relatively scarce wintering bird in the UK, with more than half the population found at fewer than ten sites, they are Amber Listed.

Their Latin name is ’tringa erythropus’ where ’tringa’ is from the Ancient Greek ’trungas’, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle, and ’erythropus’ is from Ancient Greek ’eruthros’ for ‘red’ and ’pous’ for ‘foot’. Their English name comes from their spotted black summer plumage. They are also locally known as the ‘dusky redshank’.

The Redshank is a noisy wader with obvious orange legs. Its nickname is the ‘watchdog of the marsh’ as at the first sign of danger a Redshank will take off uttering a shrill, piping “tew tew” alarm call. Redshanks stay here all year, moving south to coastal areas in winter where numbers can triple with Icelandic birds also arrive.

As its name suggests, the Redshank’s most distinctive feature is its bright orange-red legs, which rule out all other waders other than the Spotted Redshank and the Ruff. It is a medium-sized wader with an orange base to its medium-length bill (about 1-2 times the length of its head).  In summer, Redshanks have a brown speckled back with a heavily streaked breast and flanks. In winter, they are a more uniform grey-brown with a plain breast and mottled flanks. When flying, there is an obvious white rear edge to the wing and a white V up the back. The flight is erratic with rapid wing beats and glides while making a “tu-udle tu-udle” call. 

The Redshank is a typical wader, feeding in shallow water around lakes, marshes, mudflats and coastal wetlands. It eats shrimps, small fish, shellfish, snails, small crabs, and marine worms by probing with its bill. On land, it is quite happy to scoff down earthworms, beetles, flies and spiders.

Redshanks breed on open marshes, mires and salt marshes, particularly in Scotland and northern England. Look for one posed on top of a post watching out for danger and flying off noisily when you get too close. The nest is a scrape amongst rushes or grasses made by mum. She lays 4 eggs in May which hatch after 24 days. Both mum and dad incubate the eggs. The cute fluff ball chicks with their bright orange legs can feed themselves but are looked after by their parents. Before they can fly, which is about 30 days later, mum leaves the youngsters in the care of dad. Redshanks do their moult once they have finished breeding.

The Redshank. like many waders, is threatened by the loss of breeding and wintering habitats through wetland drainage, overgrazing of marshes, industrial development or sea-level rises flooding coastal sites. Their nests are also vulnerable to predators such as foxes, crows, mink and weasels. The Redshank is increasingly dependent on nature reserves and is Amber Listed. There are 25,000 Redshanks resident in Britain with numbers increasing to 130,000 in winter. The oldest ringed Redshank lived to 19.

Their Latin name is ’tringa totanus’ where ’tringa’ is from the Ancient Greek ’trungas’, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle, and ’totanus’ is from ’totano’, the Italian name for a Redshank. Worldwide, there are six subspecies and the Redshank is closely related to the Wood Sandpiper. 

The Black-tailed Godwit is a large elegant wader that overwinters in large flocks on our coastal estuaries and inland wetlands. The Godwits seen here are mainly from Iceland and northern Europe. It is the national bird of the Netherlands.

The two Godwit species that occur in the UK - Black-tailed and Bar-tailed - can be tricky to tell apart. Black-tailed has longer legs (the knee is about halfway down) and its bill is straighter, though these subtleties can be hard to see when it is knee-deep in water and feeding! The dead giveaway is when they fly. Black-tailed Godwits have a white bar on their wings.

In the summer, the male Black-tailed Godwit has a chestnut head and neck. The red colour stops halfway down before reaching its legs. It has a mottled back, a white belly, and a pale stripe eye stripe. The bill is long, straight and orange with a black tip, and its long legs have a long thigh. In winter, it has plain grey upperparts and pale underparts. The female is a muted version of the male, though bigger and heavier, with a noticeably longer beak. The kids look like a scaly winter version of mum. In flight, it has a black tail, a white rump, obvious white wing bars and its legs stick out beyond the tail. Their call is an urgent “weeka weeka weeka”.

Black-tailed Godwits eat insects, larvae, worms, seeds and other plant material by probing with their bill. The longer bill of the female helps her to avoid competing for food with the males and getting into an argument.

Black-tailed Godwits return to their wet meadows or moorland breeding territories in March. Only 50 pairs nest in Britain, mainly on the Ouse washes. They nest in loose colonies and the male performs an aerial display over his territory, where he rises and tumbles in rapid succession. Black-tailed Godwits are mostly monogamous. If the female from the previous year arrives within three days of the male, they will reunite, otherwise he will have a quickie divorce and pair up with a less tardy lady. The male makes several shallow scrapes on the ground, usually hidden in short vegetation. The female chooses one or helps him build a better one. They both incubate the 3-4 eggs which hatch after 22 days. The youngsters can feed themselves but are cared for by both mum and dad. They can fly 30 days later and soon become fully independent. Godwits leave their breeding grounds in July, as soon as the young can fly, and moult soon after arriving at their wintering grounds.

The largest numbers of Black-tailed Godwits occur here in the autumn, where as many as 45,000 come to overwinter. The loss of the wet grasslands they need to breed because of farming changes, overgrazing, and the trampling of nests by livestock is a big problem for the Black-tailed Godwit and it is now Red Listed.

Their Latin name is ’limosa limosa’ from the Latin ’limus’ for ‘mud’. A very muddy wader. The English name ‘Godwit’ is supposedly an imitation of its call, though not a very good one. Alternatively, it could be derived from the Old English ’god whit’, meaning ‘good creature’ as it was tasty to eat.

The Bar-tailed Godwit is another winter visitor, with hundreds of thousands passing through the UK on their way further south. About 43,000 stop here for winter between August and May. It is mainly found in large flocks on sandy estuaries or sheltered bays and is rarely seen inland. A few non-breeding Bar-tailed Godwits stay here all year. Bar-tailed Godwits rarely mix with Black-tailed Godwits as they like sandy as opposed to muddy areas to feed. 

The Bar-tailed Godwit is shorter-legged than the Black-tailed, with a short thigh and a knee joint about a third of the way down. In summer plumage, it has a chestnut head and neck. The red extends past its legs under the tail and its belly is plain. Their back is a scaly brown and the red bill is noticeably up curved with a black tip. The pale eye stripe flares into a triangle behind the eye. In winter, they are streaked scaly grey-brown on their upperparts and paler underneath. When flying, there is no wing bar like a Black-tailed Godwit and their feet, being shorter, don’t stick out as much. They have a white rump and barred tail - giving them their name. They are generally silent, only making a nasal “kirruc kirruc” call when on their breeding grounds.

Bar-tailed Godwits often wade in deep water, feeding on insects, crustaceans, snails, molluscs, and worms by probing with their long bills, often dining with Knots and Dunlins for company. Occasionally, they will eat seeds and berries.

The Bar-tailed Godwit only breeds on the peat bogs and swamps of the high arctic in Scandinavia and Russia. The nest is a scrape on the ground. Dad does the lion’s share of incubating the 3-4 eggs which hatch after 22 days. The youngsters can feed themselves and become independent as soon as they can fly, with the whole family leaving the breeding ground soon afterwards. They do their moult between August and September, often after they have arrived here.

Bar-tailed Godwits are long distant migrants that depend heavily on places to stop for a rest. Many of these areas are being lost to land reclamation, construction of marinas, sea defences, and tourism, so these stopping sites are now being protected. During the winter, Bar-tailed Godwits often commute between the Wash on the east coast and the estuaries of northwest England, sometimes moving back and forth between the two overnight. The oldest ringed Bar-tailed Godwit lived to 26.

Their Latin name is ’limosa lapponica’ where ’limosa’ means ‘muddy’ and ’lapponica' refers to Lapland where it breeds. The English name ‘Godwit’ probably from the Old English ’god whit’, meaning ‘good creature’ as it was tasty to eat. In French, they know it as a ’barge rousse’ from its chestnut plumage.

A Bar-tailed Godwit set the world record for non-stop bird flight when it was tracked flying more than 12,000km from Alaska arriving in New Zealand 11 days later, having flown at speeds of up to 55mph!

The Whimbrel is similar to the Curlew but has a noticeably stripy head and its bill is thicker and more kinked than curved, like a clown version. The Whimbrel is extremely scarce in winter, mainly passing through in autumn and spring. It is a long haul migrant, breeding in the far north and migrating as far as southern Africa. It is really lucky if you see one at a coastal estuary or marsh.

The Whimbrel is about a third smaller and is darker than the Curlew. It has brown back feathers edged with buff, lined underparts, and a dark head with a pale stripe through the centre of the crown and another above its eye. The bill is thick and kinked and it has short black legs. In flight, like the Curlew, it has a V-shape on its rump and often flies like geese in a V-formation. Their call is an eerie series of seven rippling “pe pe pe pe pe pe pe” whistles. Because of this, the Whimbrel is sometimes called the ‘seven whistler’. They also have a bubbling call similar to a Curlew’s.

Whimbrels eat insects, snails, worms, berries and small marine creatures, including crabs and shrimps, by picking and probing with their big bill.

Nearly all of the 300 British breeding Whimbrel pairs can be found on the Orkney islands and the numbers have been slowly increasing. They like to breed on open country and upland bogs, nesting amongst short vegetation. Unlike the Curlew, mum builds the nest. Both parents take it in turns to incubate the 3-4 eggs which hatch after 27 days. The young can feed themselves and are cared for by mum and dad, who are very defensive of their nesting area and will even attack humans who come too close. The youngsters can fly at 25 days, soon becoming independent. Whimbrels do a partial moult before moving from their breeding grounds in July, keeping their wing feathers as they move rapidly south during August and September to their wintering grounds.

About 3,000 Whimbrels pass along our coasts during migration. Climate change, habitat destruction and outbreaks of Avian Flu have badly impacted them, and they are now specially protected. The oldest ringed Whimbrel lived to 16.

Their Latin name is ’numenius phaeopus’ where ’numenius’ is from the Ancient Greek ’noumenios’ derived from ’neos’ for ‘new’ and ’mene’ for ‘moon’, referring to the crescent-shaped bill, and the ’phaeopus’ is from ’phaios’ for ‘dusky’ and ’pous’ for ‘foot’, referring to their dark feet and legs. The English name ‘Whimbrel’ is an imitation of the bird’s call. Apart from the Whimbrel and Curlew here, there are six other species of Curlews in the world, two of which - the Eskimo Curlew of North America and the Slender-billed Curlew of Eastern Europe - may now, sadly, be extinct.

The spooky, lonely, bubbling “curloo-oo” call of the Curlew can be heard on winter estuaries and summer moors. It is what gives the Curlew its name. It is our largest wader and has a distinctive long down-curved bill. Curlews breed in Scotland and even more arrive here to overwinter. Not to be confused with the Whimbrel, which is rarer, smaller and has a more stripy head.

The Curlew is grey-brown with darker streaks, a plain head, straw-coloured legs and that long, elegant, down-curved bill. The female’s bill is longer than the male’s. In flight, they have a pale V-shape on their rump and the outer wing feathers are darker than the rest. The flight is fast and like a Gull.

Curlews feed on worms, crabs and other marine insects, caught by probing. They eat most food whole and regurgitate indigestible bits as pellets.

About 65,000 Curlews breed in Britain from the Pennines northwards. They like to nest on rough grasslands, moorlands and bogs. The male marks his territory with an undulating display flight ending in a parachute glide. He will make several scrapes on the ground. The female chooses one and lines it to her satisfaction. The clever Curlew often builds its nest close to a Kestrel’s, as the Kestrel will see off any predators like foxes. In April or May, 2-5 eggs are laid and hatch after 27 days. The youngsters feed themselves and are cared for by both parents. They can fly after 32 days. Mum usually clears off before the kids can fly, leaving them with dad as she needs a well-earned break from all that child-rearing. Dad and the kids follow later.

Most British breeding Curlews head to southern Europe for winter, being replaced by large flocks of Curlews from Scandinavia. As many as 150,000 pairs overwinter here, mainly on the coast. The overall number of Curlews is falling because of the loss of breeding grounds by drainage or forest planting. In the last twenty years, the number of Curlews has halved. Farmers are now helping through stewardship schemes to protect the breeding sites. The UK breeding population of Curlews is of international importance and they have been added to the Red List, the highest priority for conservation. The oldest known Curlew lived to 31 years old.

Their Latin name is ’numenius arquata’ where ’numenius’ is from the Ancient Greek ’neos’ for ‘new’ and ’mene’ for ‘moon’, referring to their crescent-shaped bill, and ’arquata’ is derived from the Latin ’arcuatus’ meaning ‘bow-shaped’, again referring to the shape of the bill. In Scotland, Curlews are also known as ‘the whaup’.