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Pied Oystercatcher breeding season is here again!

10,000 Birds

Well, not quite like clockwork, because this year one pair of Pied Oystercatchers on Cable Beach laid their first clutch of eggs a bit earlier than normal. This year the first clutch was laid at the end of May and this is the first time we have had eggs laid in May along Cable Beach since 2000. Pied Oystercatchers feeding alone.

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Don’t Ignore the Barnacles – they’re Real Birds

10,000 Birds

However, though there have been records of feral Barnacle Geese nesting in Suffolk for many years, the number of pairs remain small, and certainly not sufficient to account for flocks of the size now seen every winter. The European Breeding Bird Atlas 2 makes interesting reading.

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The first Pied Oystercatcher chick of 2020

10,000 Birds

Our first Pied Oystercatcher eggs for this year’s breeding season were laid early and were due to hatch last weekend. This pair of Pied Oystercatchers never seems to have a problem with incubating their eggs. They take it in turns over the twenty eight days sitting or hovering over the eggs.

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Pied Oystercatcher breeding season starts early!

10,000 Birds

Traditionally since 2000 we have encountered our first Pied Oystercatcher eggs in the first week of July, but this year one pair have decided to start laying eggs early! Sadly they have already lost one clutch of eggs to predation, so by July 1st this year they are on their second clutch. Pied Oystercatcher nest.

Breeding 100
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Empty Pied Oystercatcher nests

10,000 Birds

An empty Pied Oystercatcher nest should mean that there are now chicks and that the parents have been sitting on a clutch of two eggs for twenty eight days. Some nests had clearly been there for some time and had contained eggs until recently. Pied Oystercatcher chicks can swim, but maybe feral cats will too if they are hungry.

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Pied Oystercatchers continue to nest

10,000 Birds

We have been busy walking the beach and keeping an eye on our local Pied Oystercatchers and the two pairs that laid their eggs earliest for the 2018 breeding season and successfully hatched out their chicks have now lost their chicks to predation. They have only laid one egg so far and another may be laid within a day.

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Pied Oystercatcher chicks two weeks on….

10,000 Birds

In fact we often don’t have any chicks within two weeks of the eggs hatching and other pairs along the coast have not been successful yet this season. More eggs have been laid and hopefully other pairs of Pied Oystercatchers will soon have young to care for. Female on the left and two chicks next to the male Pied Oystercatcher.

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