Despite being an easy sighting, Oystercatchers are on the UK’s Amber list of Birds of Conservation Concern. This follows a decline of 39% between 1995-2018 in Scotland. Threats to the species include high levels of predation, human disturbance, overfishing of shellfish and cold weather events.
While numbers have stabilised in England, we’ve made Oystercatchers an RSPB priority species and are working to identify solutions to their decline.
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Although associated primarily with the coast and estuaries, Oystercatchers can be found across a large part of the UK, with breeding strongholds in the interior of Scotland However, they’re typically a feature of estuaries and bays throughout October. Morecambe Bay hosts the most wintering Oystercatchers in the UK with approximately 40,000 birds counted at high tide roosts last winter.
Oystercatchers are on our shores all-year round, and, thanks to their adaptability, they turn up in some surprising locations like car parks and urban rooftops. However, from autumn, you’ll likely see them in big groups along our shorelines. Through the colder months, they eat cockles and mussels, using their strong bill to prise open or hammer their prey.
Last year, the world’s oldest Oystercatcher was discovered by the Wash Wader Research group – thanks to the power of long-term bird ringing projects. Oystercatchers have an average life expectancy of 12 years old, but this record breaker had reached a whopping 43 years old.
Brilliant birds, month by month: what to see and where to go.
They are a stocky wader with bold, black and white markings and bright orange bill. In flight, you will see a white wing bar and white rump. They can be noisy birds and will produce a loud, 'kleep, kleep' call.
In coastal areas, their main food is shellfish such as mussels and cockles. Birds which are further inland will feed on worms, crabs and lugworms.
They breed on all UK & Irish coastlines except the South East of Ireland. They nest on the ground in the open and sometimes within short vegetation. It's not too unusual to see them nesting on low roofs or even within industrial sites.
April - June, having just one brood.
On average, they live for 12 years but the oldest recorded was just over 41 years old.
We have both resident and migratory birds in the UK. Inland breeding birds will leave their territories between July and September and head to the coasts for winter whilst juvenile birds can sometimes head to France, Spain and Portugal. Birds from Scotland and Iceland will winter in the west of the UK and Ireland.
No, they are widespread in the UK.
Breeding birds remain in the UK but arrive back to breeding territories in March. Those breeding in Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands will join us in October to winter in the UK.
Non-breeding birds will leave in March to go back to their breeding territories.
