Bird of the Month: Avocet

by john mcewen illustrated by carry akroyd

Before the arrival of the collared dove, rose-ringed parakeet, little egret and red kite, the most exciting addition to the British bird list was the avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta).

To appreciate how exciting it is, one must see a living avocet up close, as at Paradise Park near St Ives or, by appointment, at Deepdale Farm, north Norfolk.

Lovelier there could not be –

O that slim upcurving bill,

The ivory and ebony

Feathers! She sees them still.

Not one other plumaged thing In that room her senses met, Nor sound, nor flicker of a wing, Sweet blue-legg’d avocet.

River, no, nor breasted seas, Nor the once-shared star of dawn, Nor alley’s linden-scented breeze. Nor emerald flash of lawn…

As that shadow of a bird, Vision on a plateless leaf, From childhood’s memory bestirred To cast a gleam on grief.

E H W Meyerstein, from The Avocet, Bewick remembered

Like the red kite, the avocet was once common in England, notably in the fenlands, but human interference hastened decline. The last breeding for a century was recorded on Romney Marsh in 1843.

Then, in 1938, two pairs nested on the Wexford Slobs, south-east Ireland. Nesting pairs in Norfolk and Essex during the war were talked of but not officially recorded because of the defensive isolation of East Anglia’s coastal belt.

Isolated marshes proved a paradise for birds. Breeding avocets at Havergate and Minsmere in Suffolk were the bridgehead for postwar colonisation. Secrecy further safeguarded the earliest Suffolk breeding pairs. Even a 1950 Times article, entitled ‘The Return of the Avocet’, censored the location.

It was not until 1955 that the avocet was adopted as the emblem of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds – Minsmere being the RSPB’s premier reserve. Black-and-white plumage was ideal for a logo. Simplified to head and shoulder, it remains the ultimate symbol of British conservation. It was designed by Robert Gillmor, who sadly died in May.

Today, a thousand pairs are resident, from the Humber to Dorset, their number increased by a winter migration approaching 10,000. One reason avocets have thrived is their fierce defence of their nests and offspring.

‘There is no wader which will sit so devotedly through floods and gales … so wary or so heroic when breeding, dashing off with its shrill cry into the blue to attack a heron, or a crow or marauding gull,’ wrote J K Stanford in 1950.

Lieutenant Colonel Stanford knew the avocet as well as anyone. He was one of the volunteers who night and day guarded the first pairs officially to breed on the sand and shingle island of Havergate.

The 2023 calendar with illustrations from this column is available at www.carryakroyd.co.uk