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The Cry of the Curlew

10,000 Birds

Here in the Brecks – an area of poor, sandy soils on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk – we have a small but important breeding population. They favour the old heaths, but a number of pairs also breed on farmland. Brettenham Heath National Nature Reserve holds the highest density of nesting Curlews in the Brecks.

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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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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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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. This is typical behaviour for a pair of Pied Oystercatchers that have eggs.

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The Great Bustard Search is On (1)

10,000 Birds

Habitat destruction combined with hunting has pushed them away from their former breeding grounds. In breeding season grazing cattle may walk through the nest, breaking the eggs, while wild and domestic pigs may eat both eggs and chicks. Bustards are being counted in February because their breeding season starts in March.

Serbia 109
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Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The tiercels (young Peregrines) must deal with Golden Eagles, Ravens, adult Peregrines, and foxes; they must also learn to navigate the skies and make their own kills, luckily these skills appear to be innately learned. It’s not easy. Well-researched and footnoted, these sections never feel disconnected from the more personal sections.

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Invasive species in Australia

10,000 Birds

European Red Foxes were brought into Australia in the 1850′s for recreational hunting and soon spread rapidly. We have seen them on remote beaches hunting shorebirds and taking their eggs and they have been responsible for much of the egg loss in breeding Pied Oystercatchers along the Broome coast.

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