Avocet (Pied Avocet)
Recurvirostra avosetta
  |
|
Distribution Britain 28 (+250%) Ireland 0
Numbers breeding: Britain 654 RBBP Ireland 0 European status: 28,000 (2% in Britain and Ireland) British population trend: spreading and increasing How likely are you to record it? 8 squares (0.2%) Ranked 155= |
This species was chosen as the RSPB logo when they started to return to breed: courtesy of Hitler! The defence of the East Anglian coast involved the flooding of the coastal marshes and provided the birds with ideal breeding habitat. The records are not complete but breeding took place in Norfolk and Essex and in 1947 there were small colonies both at Havergate and Minsmere (Suffolk). The birds had bred in the early 1800s from the Humber round to Sussex with one or two later records (over 100 years ago) in Suffolk. A record of two successful breeding pairs in Wexford in 1938 was amazing and not repeated! After the initial post-war breeding the numbers only built up at Havergate almost reaching 100 in 1958. However, by 1963 when the Minsmere birds first started to breed regularly, there were fewer than 60 pairs between the two sites. Spasmodic nesting elsewhere was recorded until the early 1970s when the population reached about 150 (about 75% at Havergate and 25% at Minsmere). Now they breed from Yorkshire to Sussex and the number of pairs reported to RBBP seem to be gradually increasing reaching 654 by 1997. Breeding is now taking place inland on the Ouse Washes (first recorded in 1996 and up to 20 pairs by 1999) and the birds are summering at Rutland Water. The return to Britain has happened after many years of increase in the number of Avocets breeding in Denmark, Holland and other countries round the North Sea — for instance the Danish population trebled over the 50 years 1920 — 1970 and the Dutch population increased even faster. Provision and management of the habitat is the answer.
The following Bird On! sketch is available:
Avocet
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead